diff --git a/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/reference_hdf_zarr.py b/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/reference_hdf_zarr.py
index f1ef7c5c..c8842238 100644
--- a/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/reference_hdf_zarr.py
+++ b/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/reference_hdf_zarr.py
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@
 import fsspec
 import yaml
 from fsspec_reference_maker.combine import MultiZarrToZarr
-from fsspec_reference_maker.hdf import SingleHdf5ToZarr
 
 from ..patterns import FilePattern, Index
-from ..storage import FSSpecTarget, MetadataTarget
+from ..reference import create_hdf5_reference, unstrip_protocol
+from ..storage import FSSpecTarget, MetadataTarget, file_opener
 from .base import BaseRecipe, FilePatternRecipeMixin
 
 ChunkKey = Index
@@ -150,10 +150,11 @@ def _one_chunk(
     metadata_cache: MetadataTarget,
 ):
     fname = file_pattern[chunk_key]
-    with fsspec.open(fname, **netcdf_storage_options) as f:
-        fn = os.path.basename(fname + ".json")
-        h5chunks = SingleHdf5ToZarr(f, _unstrip_protocol(fname, f.fs), inline_threshold=300)
-        metadata_cache[fn] = h5chunks.translate()
+    ref_fname = os.path.basename(fname + ".json")
+    with file_opener(fname, **netcdf_storage_options) as fp:
+        protocol = getattr(getattr(fp, "fs", None), "protocol", None)  # make mypy happy
+        target_url = unstrip_protocol(fname, protocol)
+        metadata_cache[ref_fname] = create_hdf5_reference(fp, target_url, fname)
 
 
 def _finalize(
@@ -212,16 +213,3 @@ def _finalize(
     }
     with out_target.open(output_intake_yaml_fname, mode="wt") as f:
         yaml.dump(spec, f, default_flow_style=False)
-
-
-def _unstrip_protocol(name, fs):
-    # should be upstreamed into fsspec and maybe also
-    # be a method on an OpenFile
-    if isinstance(fs.protocol, str):
-        if name.startswith(fs.protocol):
-            return name
-        return fs.protocol + "://" + name
-    else:
-        if name.startswith(tuple(fs.protocol)):
-            return name
-        return fs.protocol[0] + "://" + name
diff --git a/pangeo_forge_recipes/reference.py b/pangeo_forge_recipes/reference.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..168359a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pangeo_forge_recipes/reference.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+"""
+Functions related to creating fsspec references.
+"""
+
+from typing import Dict, Tuple, Union
+
+from fsspec_reference_maker.hdf import SingleHdf5ToZarr
+
+
+def create_hdf5_reference(
+    fp, fname: str, url: str, inline_threshold: int = 300, **netcdf_storage_options
+) -> Dict:
+    h5chunks = SingleHdf5ToZarr(fp, url, inline_threshold=inline_threshold)
+    reference_data = h5chunks.translate()
+    return reference_data
+
+
+def unstrip_protocol(name: str, protocol: Union[str, Tuple[str, ...]]) -> str:
+    # should be upstreamed into fsspec and maybe also
+    # be a method on an OpenFile
+    if isinstance(protocol, str):
+        if name.startswith(protocol):
+            return name
+        return protocol + "://" + name
+    else:
+        if name.startswith(tuple(protocol)):
+            return name
+        return protocol[0] + "://" + name
diff --git a/pangeo_forge_recipes/storage.py b/pangeo_forge_recipes/storage.py
index 90ae0532..4b6e4359 100644
--- a/pangeo_forge_recipes/storage.py
+++ b/pangeo_forge_recipes/storage.py
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@
 
 # fsspec doesn't provide type hints, so I'm not sure what the write type is for open files
 OpenFileType = Any
+# https://github.com/pangeo-forge/pangeo-forge-recipes/pull/213#discussion_r717801623
+# There is no fool-proof method to tell whether the output of the context was created by fsspec.
+# You could check for the few concrete classes that we expect
+# like AbstractBufferedFile, LocalFileOpener.
 
 
 def _get_url_size(fname, secrets, **open_kwargs):
@@ -116,14 +120,15 @@ def size(self, path: str) -> int:
         return self.fs.size(self._full_path(path))
 
     @contextmanager
-    def open(self, path: str, **kwargs) -> Iterator[None]:
+    def open(self, path: str, **kwargs) -> Iterator[OpenFileType]:
         """Open file with a context manager."""
         full_path = self._full_path(path)
         logger.debug(f"entering fs.open context manager for {full_path}")
-        with self.fs.open(full_path, **kwargs) as f:
-            logger.debug(f"FSSpecTarget.open yielding {f}")
-            yield f
-            logger.debug("FSSpecTarget.open yielded")
+        of = self.fs.open(full_path, **kwargs)
+        logger.debug(f"FSSpecTarget.open yielding {of}")
+        yield of
+        logger.debug("FSSpecTarget.open yielded")
+        of.close()
 
     def __post_init__(self):
         if not self.fs.isdir(self.root_path):
@@ -189,7 +194,7 @@ def file_opener(
     bypass_open: bool = False,
     secrets: Optional[dict] = None,
     **open_kwargs,
-) -> Iterator[Union[OpenFileType, str]]:
+) -> Iterator[Union[fsspec.core.OpenFile, str]]:
     """
     Context manager for opening files.
 
@@ -201,6 +206,7 @@ def file_opener(
         before opening. In this case, function yields a path name rather than an open file.
     :param bypass_open: If True, skip trying to open the file at all and just
         return the filename back directly. (A fancy way of doing nothing!)
+    :param secrets: Dictionary of secrets to encode into the query string.
     """
 
     if bypass_open:
diff --git a/tests/test_storage.py b/tests/test_storage.py
index c620615a..e1548405 100644
--- a/tests/test_storage.py
+++ b/tests/test_storage.py
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ def do_actual_test():
                         ds.load()
                     else:
                         _ = fp.read()
+                    assert hasattr(fp, "fs")  # should be true for fsspec.OpenFile objects
 
     if use_dask:
         with Client(dask_cluster) as client: