When making salsa, it is very important to keep an adequate amount of time before you can either refrigerate or discard the ingredients!
Salsas are usually made with fresh produce such as tomatoes, onions, peppers, and other seasonings. The texture and flavor will suffer if left at warm temperatures for too long!
There are two main reasons why this happens. First, some foods naturally break down when exposed to air and heat. The gelatin in vegetables like ketchup, for example, breaks down which results in thinner sauce.
Second, certain spices such as dried oregano and chili powder lose their potency when heated slightly longer.
This article will talk more about how to store your homemade salsas so that they stay delicious for a few days!
UPDATE: This article was written months ago and there have been many great updates since then including new information on preserving the nutritional value of recipes and using high-speed blender equipment to ensure proper consistency. I have rewritten this article to include those changes and more tips!
Click here to read the updated version of this article now!
Why does my salsa get thin over time?
When your salsa gets thinner than it was, one of two things happen. Either water from the added fruits is lost due to separation, or the raw materials themselves break down and evaporate.
It depends on the type of salsa you are making
Homemade salsa is always better than store-bought, but how long it will keep really does depend on what kind of recipe you have prepared. If your recipe calls for raw tomatoes, then their natural acidity can cause salsas to spoil quickly.
This happens because as time passes, enzymes in the tomato break down and chemical reactions occur which result in other compounds such as alcohol or acetic acid. These changes happen naturally as tomatoes dry out and energy comes from the food we eat.
However, dried tomatoes also contain some water so they do not completely dehydrate. This may help preserve the integrity of the tomato and therefore prevent spoiling of the sauce.
Regularly replacing the liquid in the sauce with fresh ingredients or adding more cooked vegetables can be done to avoid vinegar or alcohol taking over the palate.
The flavor fades slightly
Although fresh salsa is delicious, it will begin to lose its intensity as it sits around. As you probably know, all foods taste best when they are freshly made or mixed just before eating!
As your homemade salsa begins to set in a glass container, some of the liquid may evaporate, leaving what food scientists call “dry ingredients”. These include things such as dried tomatoes, onion powder, chili powder, etc.
This process happens naturally as air gets into the mixture, causing oxidation and water evaporation. When this occurs, the antioxidants in these dry ingredients neutralize free radicals, which can cause cell damage and aging.
In fact, research shows that having enough antioxidant intake helps prevent oxidative stress–related diseases like heart disease, cancer, and aging.
It can last up to 1 week in the refrigerator
After that, flavor will begin to diminish and it will no longer taste as fresh. Besides, your family will probably not want to eat very much salsa that has gone bad!
Sour cream acts like an antimicrobial agent in the sauce so if you let the sour cream sit at room temperature for a few hours or even a day, it will lose its potency.
You can keep it fresh for longer by freezing it
After making your salsa, you can either let it sit and solidify as it cools or you can freeze it. When you do this, it is referred to as having it in an ice cube tray or gel pack format.
To do this, put one cup of your homemade salsa into a freezer-safe container and leave some space at the top. Let it freeze completely, then move it up with tongs until liquidy.
You can also make more salsa to keep for longer
The best way to preserve your homemade salsa is to let it sit in the refrigerator until it tastes good and then consume it within two weeks!
Making extra salsa does not need to be very complicated or expensive, so do that if you run out!
You will want to process the fresh tomatoes first by either chopping them into chunks or pureeing them with a food processor or blender.
Yes, it will keep for longer
There’s no need to worry about homemade salsa going bad unless you forget your recipe or can’t get to the store to buy more ingredients!
Homemade salsa is actually very stable if stored in an airtight container and away from light. This is because the flavors of the spices and vegetables mix together to preserve the taste.
It will also stay fresh and crisp up to one week when kept in the refrigerator.
It depends on the recipe you use
One of the biggest questions that people ask about making their own salsa is how long it will keep in the refrigerator. This question comes not only from individuals looking to make some for themselves, but also as a way to learn more about making and preserving recipes!
Mostly what determines how long your homemade salsa will last is the flavor and texture of the ingredients used in it. The longer the ingredient soaks up liquid, the thinner and lighter the final product will be.
The time frame really varies depending on the type of salsa you are making and what ingredients you add into it. Some salsas can even spoil or go bad due to poor quality ingredients or fermentation.
We will discuss more about this in detail below! So stay tuned and read at your leisure.
You can try it out by trying homemade salsa
This recipe for homemade tomato-based salsa does not contain any added sugars or sweeteners, so you will have to determine how much sugar is in your mix.
Sugars that are used to make most commercially prepared salsas include glucose, fructose, sucrose, and/or maltodextrins. The amount of sugar needed depends on the consistency you want your salsa to have. More solid ingredients need more sugar to help balance out the acidity of the tomatoes!
The length of time this salsa will keep fresh really varies depending on what kind of container you use to store it. Most recipes call for letting your salsa sit and blend together overnight, which is totally fine if you’re just making small batches.
If you do batch sprucing though, then we suggest using either plasticware or glass containers with lids that you can seal tightly to preserve the quality of the salsa longer.