Refrigeration necessary for pickles?

[harryf]

I noticed a "Refrigerate after opening" on the pickle jar. Is that really necessary?

I dislike refrigeration since I do not like eating food cold or have the patient to warm up stuff. Especially for something like a (few) pickles. How long would the pickles last if I do not refrigerate it?

 

[Dina]

Not too long. If something says to refrigerate after opening, you'd be safer doing it.

 

[babetoo]

I noticed a "Refrigerate after opening" on the pickle jar. Is that really necessary?

I dislike refrigeration since I do not like eating food cold or have the patient to warm up stuff. Especially for something like a (few) pickles. How long would the pickles last if I do not refrigerate it?

i hate cold food as well. cold catsup,mustard, pickles and salsa . mayo seems ok cold.

probably not good to keep in cupboard but i do, syrup also goes in cupboard .

babe

 

[VeraBlue]

i hate cold food as well. cold catsup,mustard, pickles and salsa . mayo seems ok cold.

probably not good to keep in cupboard but i do, syrup also goes in cupboard .

babe

Open mustard and salsa will spoil very quickly if not refrigerated after opening.

 

[Alix]

Folks, don't be stupid. You are toying with your health here. Just store things in the fridge and zap whatever you are about to use in the microwave for a few seconds to take the chill off before eating.

Taste preference is unimportant when you realize you could die from some nasty bug in your food.

 

[Michael in FtW]

I agree with everything Alix said!

Pickles are made in different ways - and have different storage requirements/shelf-life, which relates back to the "type" of pickle.

 

[GB]

Different pickles need to be treated differently depending on how they are processed. There are some pickles that need to be refrigerated and others that do not. If you go into a deli in NY you may see a barrel of pickles sitting out. Those are fine the way they are. If you buy some in the store though and they say to refrigerate them then that is what you need to do.

 

[sage™]

When I was a kid and growing up. My mom never refrigerated the mustard or ketchup. We never got sick. Not sure if it said to do it back then or not.
I don't like cold pickles either..I nuke them a few seconds in the microwave before eating.

 

[harryf]

How did people back in the days keep their pickles? When I buy or make things, I do not plan to eat it all in a few days.

which relates back to the "type" of pickle

Cucumbers.

Different pickles need to be treated differently depending on how they are processed. There are some pickles that need to be refrigerated and others that do not.

I was thinking of making my own pickles. Is it possible to do it without refrigeration during the curing (right word?) process and the ready-to-eat stage? I would like my homemade pickles to last at least 2 weeks before spoiling.

Folks, don't be stupid. You are toying with your health here. Just store things in the fridge and zap whatever you are about to use in the microwave for a few seconds to take the chill off before eating.

True. But I thought it was just paranoia or that the pickle companies slapped that label there so they do not get sued for silly things. e.g. Burnt my lip while drinking coffee.

Another thing, the acidity of the vinegar should count for something.

Other than taste, there are other personal matters. The refrigerator is shared; I have very limited space. Another thing, I am one of those people that really despise the microwave. Shooting microwaves to heat/cook my food is not my thing. I know it is safe and my opinion on it is (perhaps) irrational, but I fear that thing.

 

[itzalgud]

As stated by others here, refrigeration of pickles depends on processing, mainly acid content. If the jar says refrigerate, then you should refrigerate. The exception to the "refrigerate rule" may be ketchup. Although the bottle says refrigerate, I've read that it really is not necessary due to the high vinegar content (I haven't refrigerated ketchup for years - don't like it cold).

As for home made pickles (harryf), the safest method is traditional canning using a hot water bath. The jars are sealed and safe for curing without refrigeration (for at least a year). After opening, they must be refrigerated like store pickles. I have kept open pickles in the refrigerator for as long as 2 months and they were still good.

 

[auntdot]

When I was a kid my parents never refrigerated ketchup. After we got married we moved to Miami and always refrigerated all sorts of things (including flour, cookies, you name it)trying to keep the resident insect population down to a few kazillion and away from the food.

Just got used to storing the stuff mentioned in the fridge (not the flour or cookies) and still do it, although we are far away from FL.

Read our ketchup bottle and it did not say refrigerate. A mustard jar did, although it was the only one polled - the others being in the basement and I felt lazy.

And GB brought up a good point about the old pickle barrel. Haven't thought about those in years. But those pickles were always very vinegary - others are not.

Lawyers being who they are, the food company may often be warned to include the refrigerator warning rather than not, even if the risk of keeping the food at room temp may seem minimal. (As itzalgud noted his ketchup says refrigerate and mine does not. Cannot say that is the result of the legal consultants, but it sure could be.) But I am not smart enough to know when the advice is there to satisfy some legal beagle or if it is really important. So when it says refrigerate, I do so.

If I need the ketchup or mustard warm just tickle the stuff with the nuker.

Never radiated a pickle, but I suppose it would work - just be careful. Don't think hot pickle would taste all that good.

Salsa always chill. And mayo, well, you might as well just put a sign on the jar that says free grub for bacteria if left out.

Just my take on things.

 

[krichardson]

Never radiated a pickle, but I suppose it would work - just be careful. Don't think hot pickle would taste all that good.

Oh My Aunt Dot then you must have never had a deep fried pickle! I fancy myself a pickle conoseur(sp?) and I couldn't live without a deep fried pickle every now and then. Please, please try I promise you if you like pickles you will quickly fall in love!

 

[Michael in FtW]

LOL - yeah, I kind of figured you were talking about cucumber pickles.

By "type" I was talking about this:

Regular dill pickles are fermented and cured for about 3 weeks. Refrigerator dills are fermented for about 1 week. During curing, colors and flavors change and acidity increases. Fresh-pack or quick-process pickles are not fermented; some are brined several hours or overnight, then drained and covered with vinegar and seasonings.

Obviously, "back in the day" they were not making "refrigerator" pickles. They were like the pickle barrel in the deli GB was talking about - fermented and kept in their brine.

If you want to make your own - you might want to visit the National Center for Home Food Preservation and read the sections on fermenting and pickling.

 

[CharlieD]

... If you go into a deli in NY you may see a barrel of pickles sitting out. Those are fine the way they are. ...

Even that barrel stays in the cold storage overnight. They may not spoil, but for sure becoe extra sour, the fermentation process kiks in in the worm place.

Just take them out of he fridge ahead of time, let them worm up to the room temps.

 

[GB]

Charlie, there are pickle stores that have 50 gallon (maybe larger) barrels and many of them that sit out all the time. It is due to the type of pickling method used. they can remain in room temps for a very very very long time.

 

[CharlieD]

GB I pickle them my self. Back in Ukraine we used to make like 5-6 barrels evry year for the family. Believe me I know what I'm talking about. The moment you open that barrel in the worm invironment(sp?) the fermentation process kiks in really hard and those pickles start going sour really fast. I have couple of galons seating in my (worm) basement right now. But the moment I'll open them they will go into the fridge.

 

[GB]

Well Charlie it is possible that you were not using the same technique I am talking about. I can promise you that these places have many large barrels sitting out at room temp for a long long time with no problem.

 

[CharlieD]

GB they don't. First of all barrels are closed, and that is not problem, but the ones that they opened they go thru them like crazy, that is why it is NY and deli.

Those pickles are dill pickled, very simple process.

 

[GB]

The barrels are not closed Charlie. They are open. and in those cases I am not talking about the NY delis. I am talking about pickle shops that deal in massive quantities.

As for you statement about the warm environment kicking in the fermentation, Alton Brown says the opposite

Temperature is a big factor in fermentation. We don't want to let this get higher than, say, 75 degrees. The fermentation would still take place, but it would be really, really slow

He also says in relation to storage

On the other hand, you could just leave these down here another three to four weeks with regular scumming, of course.

referring to them being in your cellar. Now in all fairness he does go on to suggest that he can't recommend that technique as if can promote spoilage, but he says it in the same way that he says he can't recommend eating carpaccio (sp?) and real egg nog and a number of other things that could be potentially dangerous.

The whole page that I took those quotes from in case anyone is interested is here.

 

[CharlieD]

Of course they have to seat for couple 3-4 weeks to get to the point when they become sour. And then some. And did he say that they should seat open. I bet not. They need to be refrigerator after opening. Large quantity stores probably sell them after opening in a day or less, like Guesess pickles for example.