Many of the Chinese hot sauce ingredients are antibiotic if
not also antimicrobial:
garlic, ginger and the capsaicin in
the hot chilies. (The hotter the chilies the more capsaicin they contain)
My
hot sauce uses arbor peppers, which are ten times hotter than jalapenos (CraigDremann's Pepper Hotness Scale). While I could not prove it empirically,
nothing ever grows in the sauce though it is in the refrigerator of over 1½ years.
Some commercially prepared sauces, like this, on the market have added ascorbic
acid presumably as a preservative. Others do not list additional preservatives.
When
serving the hot sauce, I additionally mix it with soy sauce and rice vinegar,
which adds salt and lowers its PH.
From: J Ethnopharmacol. 1996
Jun;52(2):61-70.
The antimicrobial properties of chile peppers (Capsicum species) and their uses in Mayan medicine
A survey of the Mayan pharmacopoeia
revealed that tissues of Capsicum species (Solanaceae) are included in a number
of herbal remedies for a variety of ailments of probable microbial origin.
Using a filter disk assay, plain and heated aqueous extracts from fresh
Capsicum annuum, Capsicum baccatum, Capsicum Chinese, Capsicum frutescens, and
Capsicum pubescens varieties were tested for their antimicrobial effects with
fifteen bacterial species and one yeast species. Two pungent compounds found in
Capsicum species (capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin) were also tested for their
anti-microbial effects. The plain and heated extracts were found to exhibit
varying degrees of inhibition against Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis,
Clostridium sporogenes, Clostridium tetani, and Streptococcus pyogenes.
Jennifer Billing and Paul W. Sherman report in the March
1998 issue of the journal Quarterly Review of Biology.
“Garlic, onion, allspice and
oregano, for example, were found to be the best all-around bacteria killers
(they kill everything), followed by thyme, cinnamon, tarragon and cumin (any of
which kill up to 80 percent of bacteria). Capsicums, including chilies and
other hot peppers, are in the middle of the antimicrobial pack (killing or
inhibiting up to 75 percent of bacteria), while pepper of the white or black
variety inhibits 25 percent of bacteria, as do ginger, anise seed, celery seed
and the juices of lemons and limes.
The Cornell researchers report in
the article, "Countries with hotter climates used spices more frequently
than countries with cooler climates. Indeed, in hot countries nearly every
meat-based recipe calls for at least one spice, and most include many spices,
especially the potent spices, whereas in cooler counties substantial fractions
of dishes are prepared without spices, or with just a few." As a result,
the estimated fraction of food-spoilage bacteria inhibited by the spices in
each recipe is greater in hot than in cold climate”
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