There are many ways to test hot sauce, depending on what you want to learn about it. You can test it to find out its shelf life, or you can test it to find out whether potential customers or people you know will find its flavor appealing. Another test criteria is the level of heat. You can also test hot sauce for food borne pathogens to determine whether it is safe to eat.
Instructions
1. Place several samples in jars or containers, depending on how you plan to package your hot sauce. If you plan to can it so it will be shelf stable at room temperature, prepare a batch according to the procedure you intend to use on a regular basis. Let the hot sauce sit in the refrigerator or at if you have canned it. Keep it for the length of time that you want it to last. Observe whether the lid of the container or jar is puffy. Open the container or jar and smell it, and look for mold. If you have not found any evidence that the hot sauce jas spoiled, taste some of it to determine whether its flavor has changed or deteriorated since you put in in the container or jar.
2. Feed your hot sauce to a range of people, including hot sauce aficionados as well as people who do not eat much hot sauce, and people who typically buy mainstream hot sauce at the supermarket. Feed it to them on tortilla chips, listen to their reactions, and evaluate them in the context of who you believe will be the primary consumer of your product. If you plan to market your hot sauce to hot sauce aficionados, pay especially close attention to their reactions. If you plan to market it to a mainstream market, pay closer attention to the opinions and reactions of the mainstream consumers and the people who do not ordinarily buy hot sauce.
3. To test hot sauce for level of heat, gather a group of tasters, feed it to them on tortilla chips, and ask them to rate it on a scale of one to five. There is no other objective way to measure level of gastronomic heat; in fact, the official measure of heat in chiles--Scoville units--is an average of the levels of heat that human subjects perceive. Average the reactions of your tasters to determine whether you will label your hot sauce as mild, medium, or hot.
4. To test your hot sauce for food-borne pathogens, send it to a laboratory that specializes in food testing. They will produce a lab report that tells you the level of various bacteria in your hot sauce, and whether they are present at unacceptable levels.
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