Chocolate Sauce--is canning possible??

[Emilylynn]

Hi all! I was wondering, could I can the chocolate sauce from the August issue?? I would like to find a chocolate sauce that I could can to round out the gift baskets I am making for Christmas. What do you all think? Does anyone have a chocolate sauce recipie that is suitable for canning? Thanks for all your help in advance! Emily

[Gilgamesh37]

Emily, this has come up before on the Gail's Swap board over at Epicurious. Some chocolate sauces are suitable for water bath canning and some are not--it has to do with the pH of the sauce (someone over there explained the whole chemical thing, which I was able to follow at the time, but I won't attempt to recreate). If you go over to their archive and search for chocolate + canning within the last 2 years, it should come up--one of the posters tested a bunch of different recipes with pH paper and found one that was the right pH to be safe for water bath. If I have time later today, I'll go check myself and see if I can find it.

[Emilylynn]

Great suggetion! I found a very easy recipe that looks very yummy! I am very excited to make it. Thanks again! Emily

[madpots]

EmilyLynn, could you please post the chocolate sauce recipe. I tried Epicurous, but couldn't find anything. Mine stays in the frige for ages, but I would like to give it for gifts. Thank you.

[lisas3575]

Here's a link to a page with several.

http://food4.epicurious.com/HyperNews/get/archive_swap12601-12700/12676/1.html

More discussion here:
http://food4.epicurious.com/HyperNews/get/archive_swap41401-41500/41494.html

[Beth]

I'm glad this came up. We had a neighbor who would bring a jar of hot fudge sauce for Christmas every year, and it was always wonderful -- but the recipes I have seen are mostly for storing in the fridge.

The pH thing would have to do with the acidity. Foods that have a certain amount of acidity do not promote bacteria growth. The boiling water temp is not sufficient to kill all the bacteria (I think it is botulism in particular), but the acidity keeps those not killed by the boiling temp of water from growing in the food. If a food is not acidic enough, it must be pressure canned to be preserved.

[Terrytx]

Thank you, thank you! Now I know what I'm doing for gifts for Christmas.:D

[HUNGRY!]

Did anyone try this last year? I'm thinking about this one for gifts. How easy was it? I've never canned before but would like to learn how.

[HUNGRY!]

Just bumping this up for the weekday folks! Thanks!

[Terrytx]

I canned some last year for Christmas presents and it worked out fine.

[little_bopeep]

Hey,Terry...could you please share which recipe you used? Looks like there was some debate about the ph in different recipes.

TIA!

[Terrytx]

I'm looking, but I can't seem to find it :o . I have found some of the others I did for Christmas last year, but the chocolate just isn't there. I think it came from Epicurious.

[HUNGRY!]

Thanks! I will try after I get back from vacation and report back.

[BeachBum]

I'm really interested in this too and was wondering if there was any more info that others could offer?

[HUNGRY!]

I finally got around to making some of the choclate fudge sauce from the link above for Christmas presents. I tried some (just to make sure it was okay :) ) and it was great! I made four batches and ended up with 12 half pint jars. It was really easy, you just have to remember to stir constantly or else it will burn. I used chocolate chips. I think that my family/friends will enjoy this one!

[madpots]

Did you use the recipe with condensed milk or the other one?