Refrigerator or Cupboard? How to Store Chinese Sauces and Seasonings (2024)

FAQs

Refrigerator or Cupboard? How to Store Chinese Sauces and Seasonings? ›

Tips When Storing Chinese Sauces and Seasonings

Cool and Dark Places: Spices should be stored in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight. Exposure to heat and light accelerates the loss of flavor and color. Airtight Containers: Store spices in airtight containers to protect them from moisture and air, which can lead to clumping and loss of flavor.

Sharwood's Chinese Sweet and Sour Sauce

A fruity stir-fry sauce combining pineapple with a hint of ginger. To store: Keep in a cool, dry place and consume by the best before date. Refrigerate after opening and use within 3 days.

Best Storage

The fridge is the best place to store sauces. Store your leftover homemade sauce in the fridge and use within a couple of days or freeze. For leftover shop-bought sauces it's best to follow the storage guidance on the jar. If you have leftover sauce, seal the lid and store the jar in the fridge.

Shelf-stable condiments, like stone ground mustard, red wine vinegar, strawberry preserves, and wing sauce, don't need to be as cold as other perishable foods like milk, eggs, and meat, so they can hang out on your refrigerator door.

Award-winning cookbook author Grace Young tells me that she actually does refrigerate her soy sauce, but says that most Chinese home cooks leave it out at room temperature. “Most are using bottles (and not jugs) which they use up within six to 12 months.

Just like pantry storage, spices placed in the freezer should be kept in airtight containers to prevent air and moisture from entering. It is not recommended to keep spices in a refrigerator. A refrigerator has a higher level of humidity, which can alter the taste and freshness of your spices.

A. It is important they are stored correctly, preferably in a cool dark place. They can be stored in the fridge but this is not necessary. Avoid direct sunlight or direct exposure to heat.

Once the sauce lid is opened, you should always refrigerate the sauce instead of leaving the sauce out on the kitchen countertop where warm conditions can easily form bacteria. If the sauce is refrigerated, the oyster sauce or hoisin sauce can be kept for up to three to six months.

While we recommend our regular soy sauces be refrigerated for quality, our less sodium soy sauces and other sauces should be refrigerated after opening. For the freshest tasting sauce, we recommend using the sauces within one month of opening.

Does Worcestershire sauce need to be refrigerated? ›

Like vinegar, Worcestershire sauce does not need to be refrigerated. Whether unopened or open it can be stored in the pantry for two years.

Sauces should be packed in airtight containers and kept in a cool dry position away from moisture, water, light and pests. Nutrition made from starches containing eggs, milk, cream and other dairy products is susceptible to bacterial contamination and foodborne illness.

Where to Store Soy Sauce. Because soy sauce is a product sensitive to light and temperature, like olive oil or vinegar, a cool dark place is preferred for storing when unopened. But again, an open bottle of soy sauce has a better chance of maintaining its flavor and quality if it goes in the fridge.

Information. Home cooked foods or leftovers brought home from a restaurant must be refrigerated within two hours. Discard all perishable foods, such as meat, poultry, eggs, side dishes, or casseroles, left at room temperature longer than two hours; one hour in room temperatures above 90 °F.

The high concentration of salt in fish sauce means it won't go bad at room temperature, but the color may lighten and the flavor will become more complex as the sauce ages. Keeping it in the fridge will slow this down.

Soy sauce can be kept unopened in the pantry and away from sources of heat. It's safe to be left in the pantry once opened, too, but the flavor may change over time. “If you use soy sauce infrequently, it may be best to refrigerate it to extend its shelf life,” Edwards says.