Something weird on my pumpkin pie, help!

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Jovin

Senior Cook
Joined
Dec 17, 2003
Messages
334
Location
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Hi, this is Jovin's daughter, she told me to come on under her name to ask this question because she didn't know what to tell me.

I made a pumpkin pie last night .... canned pumpkin (rather an old can but had never been opened,) evaporated milk, splenda, spices and 2 eggs past due but seemed ok (hey my car is in the garage so I had to work with what I had! lol)

Ok the pie turned out great! I thought. I enjoyed some last night while watching my true crime shows. Thought it was a keeper!

Then today I went to have some (now in the full daylight) and I see these little white things!!! Tubular shapped little white things... some about 1/4 inch, some about an inch... all through my pumpkin pie!!!! I'm freaking out! I called my Mom and she doesn't know what it is but thinks maybe it's the eggs or something. But hey, everything was mixed together cold and then put in the oven to bake....

Please tell me these are not worms! OMG, I just feel sick. I sure don't want to throw my pie out but I can't figure out what this is!

silken :ohmy:
 
:ohmy: .........not a clue but I'd take some of it and freeze it in case you do get sick...........then pitch the rest.
 
Jovin said:
Hi, this is Jovin's daughter, she told me to come on under her name to ask this question because she didn't know what to tell me.

I made a pumpkin pie last night .... canned pumpkin (rather an old can but had never been opened,) evaporated milk, splenda, spices and 2 eggs past due but seemed ok (hey my car is in the garage so I had to work with what I had! lol)

Ok the pie turned out great! I thought. I enjoyed some last night while watching my true crime shows. Thought it was a keeper!

Then today I went to have some (now in the full daylight) and I see these little white things!!! Tubular shapped little white things... some about 1/4 inch, some about an inch... all through my pumpkin pie!!!! I'm freaking out! I called my Mom and she doesn't know what it is but thinks maybe it's the eggs or something. But hey, everything was mixed together cold and then put in the oven to bake....

Please tell me these are not worms! OMG, I just feel sick. I sure don't want to throw my pie out but I can't figure out what this is!

silken :ohmy:

If it was mine it would already be in the garbage. :sick:
 
It is instant mold! Did you refrigerate your pie? This happened to me once. The pies (2) were so good that I left them out for eating later. When we came home from the movie, the pies had molded.
I have noticed that the recipe on the can has changed. It used to call for 1/2 can of evaporated milk and now calls for one can. The pie turns out okay but the filling is not as pumpkin rich.
 
silken, based on your description, I reckon it could be mould. This could be due to the pie being damp (because it was not cool completely before covering) or high humidity, presuming that all the ingredients used were okay. If you want to save the pie, dig out those mouldy areas and if it is still salvagable, refrigerate it immediately. However, if you do not wish to eat it, then dump it.
 
Pumpkin Pie Disaster Update lol

Wow, I never heard of instant mould!!

Well I left it out last night till I thought it was cool enough and then I refrigerated it but maybe not!

I remembered after posting my first post that I still had leftover pumpkin in the fridge so I went and looked through it and there's definitely no white things in there so whatever happened happened somewhere after I started putting things together.

Thank you for the diagnosis everyone! I'm ditching it! :( I'll make some again with the leftover pumpkin when I have some fresh eggs. ;)

silken
 
Please do not wait for something to be cool enough to refrigerate it. The correct way to lower a temperature is to refrigerate it immediately, not leave it sitting on the counter.

I would be happy to go into further detail on correct chilling procedures if you desire:)
 
Hi, VeraBlue,

This is Jovin now. I made my daughter register for herself, since I've had to come to get advice here for her before.

I sure wish you would give details on correct chilling procedures, because this has been a real problem between my SIL and myself for some time now.

Whenever I stay at my other daughter's out of town and I cook dinner, my SIL insists that the food CANNOT be put into the fridge for like a couple or more hours later! I don't agree with this at all, so if you can show me the correct way, I'm going to print it out and put it before his eyes next time I see him!

Thanks for all of your help.



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Do they move when you poke them with a knife? If so, they're worms.

I have two very old cans of pumpkin in my pantry that I am going to throw away right now. :sick:
 
Jovin said:
This is Jovin now. I made my daughter register for herself, since I've had to come to get advice here for her before.

I sure wish you would give details on correct chilling procedures, because this has been a real problem between my SIL and myself for some time now.

Whenever I stay at my other daughter's out of town and I cook dinner, my SIL insists that the food CANNOT be put into the fridge for like a couple or more hours later! I don't agree with this at all, so if you can show me the correct way, I'm going to print it out and put it before his eyes next time I see him!

Thanks for all of your help.



2jbuq82.gif

I really love your currier and ives signature!

I'm certified in food safety and sanitation. More time is spent on proper temperatures and holding than almost anything else. Food is a breeding ground for bacteria, spores and viruses. Food borne illnesses are almost always a result of improper holding/handling.
You must keep hot foot hot, 140 degrees, and cold food cold, 40 degrees. You have a two hour window of service that food can vary from these temperatures. After that two hours you must either reheat quickly, or chill, quickly.
Naturally, the type of food we are talking about is going to determine how you chill. For instance, if you have made a thick stew for dinner and have about 1 gallon left over, you have to chill it 40 degrees within two hours for the food to be safe to eat again. If you put the stew on the counter to cool, and temp it after two hours, it will probably be 85 degrees and completely unsafe for another consumption. It was out of the 140 range for more than two hours, and not in the 40 range for any time at all. The best way to quickly chill that stew would be to put it into a shallow pan, spreading it out as much as possible. Then, you have to put it directly into the fridge, uncovered. Covering it will trap steam, making it impossible to quickly cool. Come back every half hour or so to give it a stir. Temp it after two hours and you'll see that it is 40 degrees. The stew, laid out thinly won't really raise the temperature of your fridge (a common misbelief) because it cools so quickly. Put that stew in there in a big bowl and the temperature will rise because you have this hot pot that simply cannot get cool.

A pie is a little more difficult to cool because it's so thick and not meant to be taken apart. When you remove it from the oven, it's going to be 350 degrees. Most fruit pies can sit out for a day, but something like coconut custard should be cooled. Give it 20 minutes on the counter and then right into the fridge, preferably in the coldest spot. That is usually the spot where you avoid putting any lettuce or spinach because it freezes solid.

So, tell you SIL that you have two hours to get something to a safe temperature zone. Leaving something on the counter just wastes all the cooling time you have. After that, the growth of micro organisms is off the chart, usually in the millions per inch.

If she brings up thawing food on the counter, send her to me:LOL:
 
I always make pumpkin pies the morning of the dinner, and set them on the dining room table, out of the heat of the kitchen. I find refrigerating them too soon makes the crust soggy. After we eat, I put any that's left in the fridge.

Of course, my husband says I keep the house as cold as a meat locker. Friends do tend to bring sweaters when they come over...summer and winter. :ermm:
 
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Jovin ~ Please tell your daughter to dump the left over pumpkin. (She said that she would keep it to make another pie.) She needs to start fresh -- new cans of pumpkin and evaporated milk, fresh eggs, etc. I have unfortunately had food poisoning and it is awful!!!! When foods are over their expiration dates, get rid of them -- it doesn't pay to keep them and risk poisoning!!!!
 
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Hi, Ladies....

Thanks a million, VeraBlue for all that information, WHICH I'LL PRINT OUT AND SHOW TO MY SON-IN-LAW! (not my daughter-in-law as you thought.) I am going to have it handy for myself and both of my daughters to refer to.

Wow! Xmas dinner at their place is going to be a rough one. I can just see us now, trying to convince him that the turkey HAS TO BE REFRIGERATED before hours and hours out on the counter. Wish me luck.

Thanks to you too, Aunt Shelly for that reminder that Silken should throw out the leftover pumpkin. I didn't quite catch that earlier when I read her post, or I would have told her the same thing.

For anyone who is interested in getting a siggy similar to the one in my earlier post, just join Delphi Forums and go to Enchanted Signatures and the artist's name is Judy. Everything's free.

The one I've used here, I'm still looking up...can't remember where I got it but it was from a Delphi signature forum, I think.

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