Surprising food you shouldn’t refrigerate: Pickles
A lot of us love a good pickle. They make for some amazing snacks, and you can add them to a variety of foods. You may be used to opening a jar and then storing it in the fridge if you didn’t finish it all. However, due to the fact that the pickle brine is made with vinegar and salt, which are preservatives, the whole mixture is unlikely to grow or favor any airborne pathogens or illnesses, so they do not need to be refrigerated.
Before even opening the jar, you can store it for up to two years in the pantry or even on the counter, as long as it’s away from direct sunlight. Once they are opened, the only issue you will run into is them spoiling due to contact with the air. Despite this, after you have opened a jar, it is safe to keep it at room temperature for about three months, as long as the pickles are fully covered in the brine.
They will, however, become more sour as they age, but this does not imply that you will contract any disease. It is just unpleasant. To stop the spoilage or even molding that can happen on the surface of the jar, make sure you do not add anything to the brine, even by accident. This means taking out the pickles with tongs or with gloves if needed. It is also advisable to eat the jar’s contents as soon as possible after you have opened it.
10 thoughts on “You Should NEVER Refrigerate These 5 Delicious Food Items”
It is true you should not keep your bread in your fridge, but for longer periods, you can store your it in a freezer. It may lose some nutrients, but not as much as if it were in the fridge. One area of concern is that many of the foods you buy in the store, kept cold, was delivered that way, so you should use them before a certain time( expire on a date) .
I’ve been freezing my bread for a while now and it works great.
Bread should be in the freezer the night befote its use. That way it becomes a resistant starch and wont turn into fat. Same with rice and potatoes. They should be cooked first and stay in the fridge overnight to becone a resistant starch.
You left out tomatoes. Tomatoes contain an enzyme that reacts to cold temperatures and causes its cell membrane to break down, leaving you with a piece of fruit that’s mushy and mealy. “You’re essentially zapping flavor and texture from a tomato when you refrigerate it,” says Gregory Lofts, deputy food editor at Martha Stewart Living.
Re: Pickles. What if you buy already-refrigerated pickles, like Claussen or Bubbies? I’ve always stored pickles in the refrigerator, and I’m not going to stop now. Besides, I like a cold pickle.
Thanks, I was well informed by your information. But I do like a cold pickle:-).
Some of the items mentioned like pickles say refrigerate after opening??
Don’t keep tomatoes in the fridge either. They lose flavor. There’s a compound that makes the scent of the tomato; it’s destroyed after 3 days in the fridge. if you keep your tomatoes in the fridge for even 2 days, you’re jeopardizing the compound, and thus the flavor. Keeping them in a cool, dark place is best for them.
Bananas, some say eggs, potatoes, onions, also can be kept out of the Fridge for a certain length of time.
Very interesting article. My home stays warmer than most. So leaving things on the counter worries me. My bread will get moldy fast, tomatoes get over ripe and semi ripe banana’s only last a couple of days, then I have to refrigerate them or slice them up and freeze them. I’ll start freezing my bread. Pickles have been a debate here. So now I know. Thx!