/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.3916348]

Alright /ck/, serious question. I've always kept my ketchup in the fridge simply because I like having cold ketchup with a hot meal. However, today I let my ketchup bottle spend half the day at room temperature before refrigerating it again. Then after another half day I had it with a meal, however it tastes completely different. I wouldn't say it tastes spoiled, just very different.

Anyone know what could have happened? I can't imagine letting it sit out for a few hours could have done anything to it. The only thing I can think of is that the process of cooling it, letting it get warm, then cooling it again may have altered the composition somehow, and even that seems like a stretch of the imagination. It just seems like a really peculiar occurrence.

[Anonymous No.3916351]

Please respond

[Anonymous No.3916358]

Usually, the hotter something will be the more it will develop flavors.
So when you prepare something that is served cold, you need to spice it more than if you would serve it hot.
You could make a test by freezing some ketchup in ice tray and then taste it. Again it will have a different taste.
I never keep my ketchup in the fridge for that reason.

[Smithski the NKVD commissar No.3916359]

Probably because condensation hits and the water goes back into the ketchup,diluting the flavor.

A few hours does not mean that bacteria growth or fungi growth has not happened. Back at the place I worked, we had to check the ketchup bottles, all 20 of them every day and open the bottle to make sure that bacteria growth hasn't happened and any of them which gives a loud hsst of gas whenever its opened could mean that something's been growing in it, producing gas. Also, if the gas build up gets high enough, ketchup on the edge of the cap sometimes flies out when you open it, making the entire place look like someone's just had their throat slashed.


Usually we just dump the contents, wash it and refill with new ketchup. If you're unsure, buy new ones. No point in getting food poisoning over a bottle of ketchup.

[Anonymous No.3916373]

>>3916359
So there is the possibility it could have spoiled after all? Maybe that was the case then. It's a pretty dramatic difference in flavor but I was so skeptical I didn't think it could happen in the first place.


>>3916358
I'll have to test that out, I've had "warm" ketchup at restaurants and such though, so I'm not sure that's what happened.

[Smithski the NKVD commissar No.3916390]

>>3916373
Most bacteria are "slowed" to the point where reproduction becomes negligible at 4C (fridge temp), fungi gets slowed too by not as much. Hence why food in fridges still get moldy or go off.
At room temperature or worse, a slightly warm day, the bacteria will be growing anywhere from 4 to 8 times the rate as it does at 4C.

On the bright side, ketchup is loaded with salt, sugar and preservatives, which limits the amount of bacteria that can grow on it as it limits water activity (or how much water is available to a bacteria or fungal spore)

I'm not telling you it HAS, but it can. Ketchup out of a bottle/can should is fine up to 7 days once it has opened and unrefrigerated (which is why diners and restaurants can get away with it since they usually use more ketchup in a day than a household does in a week)

In theory, warm ketchup should taste the same as cold ketchup, but cooling/warming may affect how you interpret the taste of it.

...I have no idea why I went on about microbiology and ketchup, I am sorry.

[Anonymous No.3916399]

>>3916373
What I said was just a generalization, trying to go for the most obvious because ketchup does have a long shelf live. But it could be spoiled/fermented as the other anon said.
Saw once a customer open a bottle of fermented ketchup. It exploded right in her face and all over her dress. She looked like she just committed a murder. Every body laughed, except her. None the less, it still tasted as regular ketchup, a bit more vinegary (if that's a word).

[Anonymous No.3916422]

>>3916390
> ...I have no idea why I went on about microbiology and ketchup, I am sorry.
No no no, this always a great idea to explain why certain foods have longer shelf live than others. So one can know how to preserve things. Not everything has to go in the fridge.
And as you mentioned, the percentage of 'active water' is crucial. And that's also one of the differences between ketchup you buy in the store and a home made one.

> Ketchup out of a bottle/can should be fine up to 7 days once it has opened and unrefrigerated
Oh, much longer than that sir. After one month it still good. Keep my bottle in dark cool place, not the fridge. But home made ketchup, won't last that long.

[Anonymous No.3916454]

>>3916390
Well, the bottle was damn near finished anyway, so it probably doesn't matter. I was just surprised anything happened at all. As you meantioned it's so loaded with preservatives and vinegar I didn't think it could spoil/ferment in such a short time. (I go through quite a bit of ketchup.)

[Smithski the NKVD commissar No.3916521]

>>3916422
7 days is the absolute minimum in a worst case scenario...like living in a rain forest next to the unfiltered air next to a bio weapons lab run by Kim Jong Il.

[Anonymous No.3918253]

>>3916359
A few days ago I came across a nearly full bottle of ketchup in one of my cupboards. I'm not sure how long it'd been there, but there was definitely bacteria growth and it was all sort of bulging out with the built up gas. I just brushed it with my finger and it straight up exploded, scared the shit out of me.