Common Sauces: Refrigerate After Opening?

[Attjack]

Sugar inhibits spoilage as well.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...20in%20contact.

[Attjack]

Porkies I feel like if I use a wine saver to eliminate air in the bottle and keep it in the fridge it lasts for months. I also buy the small bottles as I previously mentioned although not all brands come in small bottles. Without a wine saver, I would say 1-2 months in the fridge.

[rickgregory]

To me there are two reasons to refrigerate things: Food safety and food quality.

Soy sauce, mustard, fish sauce, Worcestershire and vinegars are fine at room temp from a safety perspective. More, too. NOW... I'm assuming your kitchen is roughly 70F or so. If it's July, 98F and your house doesnt have AC? Different situation. Be reasonable, of course. Obviously if something is out on the counter for 5 months, it's going to be more of a risk than if it's gone in 2 weeks too.

From a quality standpoint, I think everything will benefit from refrigeration since cold slows chemical reactions, e.g. oxidation and spoilage. That said, cold also suppresses flavors. If you're adding an ingredient to dish you're cooking that will not matter but if not... consider that impact.


I think IowaGirl has a good point about acidity and sugars too. Acids and salt inhibits spoilage. Sugar... feeds it.

[IowaGirl]

If mustard is just mustard, water, and a good dollop of vinegar, it's probably room temperature stable. But if it contains any sugars or the acidity is low, it needs to be in the fridge.

Some years ago I suffered through several bouts of severe food poisoning. I eventually traced it to recently purchased honey mustard. I make my own mustard, and I'm very particular about the acidity level and it stays refrigerated.

[Porkies]

Attjack How long is a vermouth good if kept in the fridge? Weeks? Months?

[bbqLuv]

Dito on sauces, but PBR before opening. 😲

[MBMorgan]

Basically, if it's open and it's not oil (sesame oil is a refrigerated exception), vinegar, or honey ,,, it gets refrigerated.

[shify]

A lot of those, like soy sauce, say they should be refrigerated to best preserve quality. If you use quickly, obviously its not necessary. Then again, I refrigerate pretty much every sauce/condiment except vinegar. Its just easier to find (and find space) on my fridge door than it would be to navigate through my cabinets. A whole shelf on my fridge door at near eye level that is dedicated to hot sauce makes it easier for me to pick and choose which one I want to use

[Donw]

I use StillTasty a lot. https://stilltasty.com , search for sauce. Seems refrigeration will definitely extend the quality of most sauces.

[Jfrosty27]

Me too. I just shove everything in the fridge. But my door cubby’s are so full I think the doors may fall off! 🤣

[Attjack]

Vermouth 100% needs to be refrigerated unless you're using the whole bottle that day. I also use a vacuum sealer and buy small bottles. There's nothing worse than a ruined cocktail because of old vermouth.

[Rob Johnston]

I seem to refrigerate everything. I think I got that from my mother and did just what she did. My wife is the opposite--she would refrigerate practically nothing. I do tend to read the fine print now.

[Steve B]

I'm in this boat. I refrigerate everything. + My wife wouldn't consume anything left out.

[ssandy_561]

One thing I have started with most things in my kitchen is I’ll write the date I opened it on the label somewhere in marker. That way if I pull the open Ketchup out of the pantry and the date I wrote is older than 2 months I give a little pause before I consume.

This is something I started with baking goods since I don’t do that often. I’m not sure how many times I used baking powder (or other material in my lazy susan) long after I should have because I had no idea when I opened it.

[ssandy_561]

I don’t refrigerate my Kraft Parmesan Cheese either. It never last more than a month for me. I actually like the flavor more after about 2 weeks open and out of the fridge.