Ketchup in the fridge

[Shropshire Seagull]

Rule of thumb - if it's not in the refrigerated section of the supermarket then it doesn't need to be in your house.

Until opened = broken thumb ...

Our fridge [big american jobbie] has a whole shelf dedicated to condiments: mustard x 3, ketchup x 2, mayo, salad cream, sweet-chilli, pickle, Regae-regae, piccalilly, etc. all bar salt & pepper.

Cool as u like .... and jolly nice it tastes too.
Personal choice me finks

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Until opened = broken thumb ...

Our fridge [big american jobbie] has a whole shelf dedicated to condiments: mustard x 3, ketchup x 2, mayo, salad cream, sweet-chilli, pickle, Regae-regae, piccalilly, etc. all bar salt & pepper.

Cool as u like .... and jolly nice it tastes too.
Personal choice me finks

I just find that bizarre. I too have a big american one - mostly empty, but would never think to put that stuff in there. None of it is going to go orf.

 

[Mellotron]

None of it is going to go orf.

It's not about whether it's going to go off or not. It TASTES nicer FRESH. Room temperature condiments don't feel fresh, they feel a bit...blegh, like something that's been left out when it shouldn't be.

 

[Helen Chamberlains Quim]

Most of the products mentioned are hermetically sealed and once exposed to air bacteria can form, even with the vast amount of preservatives in them. There in lies the problem.

Fridge full of condiments for me please!

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Most of the products mentioned are hermetically sealed and once exposed to air bacteria can form, even with the vast amount of preservatives in them. There in lies the problem.

Fridge full of condiments for me please!

Any bacteria that can survive a the acidic environment of most of those condiments (not sure about jarred mayo) would quite happily live in your fridge. Heat kills bacteria, not cold.

 

[beorhthelm]

the whole point of most condiments is to preserve the foodstuffs involved. refigeration is quite pointless and wrong.

 

[Helen Chamberlains Quim]

Heat kills bacteria, not cold.

Food goes bad because bacteria, mould and microbes attack it. This happens more quickly in warm temperature, where as cold interrupts and even stops this process. So food will keep fresh for longer in a fridge.

 

[ryeseagull]

Most of the products mentioned are hermetically sealed and once exposed to air bacteria can form, even with the vast amount of preservatives in them. There in lies the problem.

Fridge full of condiments for me please!

I agree. Although I was converted by my American wife to this point of view.

I remember my late grandmother leaving a milk jug out all day in the larder for tea. Attitudes have changed.

The tabasco sauce does live in the cupboard, though, along with the Lea and Perrins and such like.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Food goes bad because bacteria, mould and microbes attack it. This happens more quickly in warm temperature, where as cold interrupts and even stops this process. So food will keep fresh for longer in a fridge.

Agreed but most bacteria you'd encounter in your normal kitchen can't live in the acidic conditions of ketchup, pickles, etc., so no point at all. If you live next to the cooling rods of an nuclear reactor, or anywhere in Japan currently, you may have hardier bacteria than me.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

There seems to be a view that you only put stuff in your fridge to preserve it.
Tosh!
Beer lasts for ages [unopened out of the fridge] but taste like pi$$ if it ain't chilled [real ale drinkers need not reply].
So some of us put some stuff in the fridge to change the taste / consumption pleasure, NOT just to prolong its tasteful / safe consumption life.

It's a personal choice - no rule of thumb required.

 

[beorhthelm]

Beer lasts for ages [unopened out of the fridge] but taste like pi$$ if it ain't chilled [real ale drinkers need not reply].

interesting point. while true, it must be highlighted that decent beers dont taste of piss if refigerated, just refrigeration improves (and is partly just to meet expected taste). so does it follow that the need to place condiments in the fridge is because you using cheap/substandard brands that need something to make them better tasting?

 

[CHAPPERS]

Ketchup in the fridge unless you're my nan then you keep it in the cupboard.

In Heaven.

 

[Easy 10]

Why not just go the whole hog and put the ketcup in the FREEZER, so you can have it MELT onto your dinner.

Dins.

 

[Notters]

interesting point. while true, it must be highlighted that decent beers dont taste of piss if refigerated, just refrigeration improves (and is partly just to meet expected taste). so does it follow that the need to place condiments in the fridge is because you using cheap/substandard brands that need something to make them better tasting?

It's not to make it better tasting, it's to make it taste less, because lager actually tastes like shit... and I'm not just saying that as an ale drinker; that is why lager has to be chilled.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Chocolate I can understand - but that's a texture thing, then you get that extra snap when you bite it.

it also changes the taste.

 

[AlbionKebabs]

If you keep it in the fridge you don't get any of that nasty ketchup sepration business going on. Many a pile of chips has been ruined by the watery red discharge of an unshaken ketchup bottle. FRIDGE IT.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

If you keep it in the fridge you don't get any of that nasty ketchup sepration business going on. Many a pile of chips has been ruined by the watery red discharge of an unshaken ketchup bottle. FRIDGE IT.

Buying cheap tommy k are we ? Try shaking it - you have to shake a ketchup bottle before you use it by law anyway.

 

[AlbionKebabs]

Heinz all the way. Some people don't have time to shake...

 

[Billy the Fish]

The thing is though, I like a bit of harmful bacteria in my diet 'cos it keeps my body on it's toes. I've never had food poisoning in my life and rarely get ill. My body is used to fighting off life's little nasties.

 

[Uwinsc]

Ketchup in our house lives in the cupboard but mayo and horsradish etc live in the fridge