6mo ago

What did your parents refrigerate? Mine refrigerated bread.

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That sounds like a great way to make stale bread…
Things we refrigerated that I’ve seen others not refrigerate:
jelly(US)
ketchup
mustard
Things we didn’t refrigerate that I’ve seen others do:
peanut butter
honey
oil
soy sauce
oyster sauce
Edit: Just to clarify this is what my parents did and doesn’t reflect my adult opinions.
- My soy and fish/oyster all say to refrigerate right on the label.
  Since they already made the shit I'm ingesting, I'm taking their word for it.
  
  High salt/vinegar content condiments are perfectly fine at room temp for a weeks to months in dry to mostly dry moderate temp climates. That is why air conditioned restaurants which have consistent temps and low humidity leave them out on the tables.
  The label is there so someone in Florida doesn't have it go bad in a couple months on their counter. Plus refrigeration extends the time it can go without spoiling, which is great for condiments that are rarely used.
- Some soy sauce recommends refrigeration on the bottle. Some don't. I don't know why.
  
  Probably based how much salt is actually in the sauce. High enough salinity will basically kill any potential nasties.
  
  I would wager it has more to do with preserving the flavor.
  
  That too is a strong possibility but if the container airtight it probably shouldn't see a ton of loss of flavor mover time. And a lot your major soy sauce is predominantly just salty and savory without much of other complex flavors going on.
- I like my ketchup refrigerated, not because it has to be, but because I like the contrast between cold ketchup and hot food.
- …the reason jelly/jam/preserves are canned is because they are not shelf stable otherwise. I just threw out a jar because it molded in the fridge…
  Peanut butter is shelf stable, but we usually get the stuff that’s just peanuts and salt, so it separates at room temp.
  Mustard, ketchup, & soy/fish sauce… sometimes it’s just convenient to keep most of my bottles and jars together in the fridge door.
  I’m hypersensitive to rancid oil. Also the healthy parts of olive oil & fish oil degrade with time, heat, sun and oxygen exposure. The fridge slows this down. That said, I keep my cooking oil under the counter.
- Omigod honey.
  
  Ours always crystallized and needed to be microwaved or soaked in hot water anyway so it’s kind of a 6 of one; 1/2 dozen of the other situation in my experience.
- If I put oil in the fridge it gets solid
  Same for honey, as cold accelerate the crystallization process.
  Peanut butter is basically oil already, but putting it in the fridge might help keeping it less oily. I eat organic 100% peanut butter and it is often oily when I open it. I think that’s why some have palm oil in it.
  Soy sauce should be salty enough to store out the fridge but I prefer to keep it in the fridge for some reason.
  Oyster sauce contains sea food, so straight in the fridge!
  
  I used to buy a lot of """"natural"""" peanut butter. The kind in glass jars that separates after a while, so you have to stir the jar every time you use it. After a while, I started keeping it in the refrigerator because that stopped it from separating at all. Just stir once when opening the jar for the first time, then into the refrigerator it goes, and it never needs stirring again.
  
  I'd be remiss if I didn't post this every time someone mentions palm oil.
  
  palm oil.
  Oh my sweet internet. Now I know what I'll put on display next time I'll get drunk with my friends. Thank you very much sir!
  
  Oyster sauce contains sea food, so straight in the fridge!
  You'll be horrified to learn where the ปลาร้า(fermented fish)lives in my own house as an adult 😂
  
  Don't worry, I'll keep my eyes shut
  
  Oyster sauce should be kept in the fridge, it helps it oxidize slower.
- I'm with you, but the first three only after they've been opened.
  
  The unrefrigerated jelly is the only one that bugs me.
  I actually switched my peanut butter stance as an adult, but only because I switched to real peanut butter and it separates slower in the fridge.
- If it's in a sealed plastic bag it doesn't go stale until long after it would have molded on the counter. I refrigerate mine because I buy Costco sized sliced bread and it takes me 2 months to go through it. If you toast your bread, the staleness is unnoticeable
  A lot of these things only need to be refrigerated to preserve flavor, not to stop spoilage. If you go through a bottle of ketchup in 3 months there is little benefit to refrigerating it, if it takes 3 years for you to finish it, it should probably stay in the fridge.
  Some peanut butter brands require refrigeration to prevent mould. Others recommend it because it stops the oils from separating. Brands like Kraft don't require any refrigeration at all
  Refrigerating oil will stop it from going rancid, but I've only ever needed to do this with used deep frier oil
  Honey is just a hell no in the fridge
  
  The Costco bagels are notorious for molding before you even get home…
- Honey depends on the quality. Real honey will basically never turn bad (they found containers with thousand year old still edible honey), but the cheap stuff is sometimes mixed with sugar syrup etc. and then it needs refrigeration.
  
  Sugar is also a preservative though.
  The refrigeration is either to extend flavor or to prevent spoilage in hot and humid locations where mold can build on the parts of the container that dry out if it isn't used often.
- peanut butter
  This one absolutely turns on what kind of peanut butter you have. Jif/Skippy etc. shouldn't go into the fridge. It was engineered, for better or worse, to be shelf stable and turns into silly putty if it's cold. Most "Real" peanut butter separates like a mofo if it's in the pantry, requiring frequent stirring, and many recipes will never quite be solid enough to spread well. In the fridge, they are much easier to deal with, though my latchkey Xennial ass still prefers the wondrous combination of peanut-inspired substances and mid-century food science.

664 comments