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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Will it kill me?

testing fate?

Since the holidays were approaching, I bought the obligatory foods for Christmas and New Year's celebrations that I like. That's right, I can celebrate alone, just food and me. The night I bought all this, I rushed in with half a dozen plastic bags, dumped it on the couch and ran to the bathroom.

 It was chilly and getting colder, so I turned on the heater, changed out of clothes I wore out and bundled on some warmer clothing. I grabbed a few bags and went to put the contents away. As the night wore on, I brought some items from the dryer and dumped those on the couch. The dried laundry was not freshly dried and hot.

As hours and days rolled by, I sporadically searched for the sour cream. The refrigerator was the target of one search. Nope. The sour cream was not to be found.

Finally, on day four or five I accidentally found the little container all alone in a bag and sort of scrunched down, looking as though it were an empty bag on the sofa amongst other bags I put there to fold away and put into another bag for reuse.

What to do?

hmmm

I opened it and looked in. Some of the tiny bit of liquid spilled on me. Hence, the bowl.

What to do?

smells okay


I smelled it.

Again.

Again.

Since it was not separated, did not smell unlike sour cream and had no mold, I contemplated eating it....for about five seconds. It was okay!

When exbf came in from the yard, I posed the question to him: "Smell this. Do you think this sour cream that has been on the sofa and not in the refrigerator is safe to eat? 

He was bending slightly to smell and sort of recoiled and bent to smell, "It might be spoiled."

It is fermented milk, "spoiled" milk, to begin with, just milk. I make buttermilk by putting it on the counter on a warm day and let it sit for 24 hours. This has been on the sofa covered, well-insulated, but clothes and plastic bags. That sofa sits on the coldest wall in this part of the house and is not near the heat, not that it ever gets warm in here. It was still cold!

"I don't know. I don't think I want to eat it."

teaspoon of liquid when dumped to mix
in French's Onion Soup Mix
still firm
no colors within
 
 
onion soup smells good



So, I ate it.
 
I did not die and don't think I took a chance. The odor was fine. There was not a breakdown in the texture of the sour cream with lots of liquid. It tasted like it should. There was no visual evidence that mold might be forming. I was 100% positive that I would be fine even though the sour cream spent 4 or 5 days out of the refrigerator. I don't believe the temperature was over 50, maybe 40 degrees these days it lived on the couch.
 
The sour cream would not be fed to anyone who did not have a chance to make a decision. Oh, I would serve it but reveal my slip. Let me make this clear--I would serve this to others, BUT I would reveal what happened. I would never serve food not stored properly and keep it a secret! People do need to have a choice as to whether to take a chance or not.
 
Your turn
Would you have been afraid to eat the sour cream? What other steps would you have taken to ensure the sour cream was okay to eat? Do you ever eat things that was not stored according to the "rules?"
 

 
 

27 comments:

  1. I think I'd have thrown it away, but since you've revealed it might be okay, I might take a chance in the future....or not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jess,
      I could not detect any change, and it was still very cold. Thanks for the response.

      Delete
  2. Hey if it smells ok, I'd have a little taste and go from there. Nope I wouldn't tell either......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MrsHoppy,
      I said I would tell what happened when I served it. Thanks for the response.

      Delete
  3. I probably wouldn't have eaten it. Stuff like that makes me nervous.

    Love,
    Janie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Janie,
      I have seen and smelled sour cream and cottage cheese that turned yellow and red. I would not eat that. Thanks for the response.

      Delete
  4. Given the temperatures you have been having, I would have sniffed it, tested it, and probably eaten it. In our heat, I wouldn't take the chance. Bacteria grows faster than the food changes colour or smell. Inconsistent? Probably.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. EC,
      I did all that and decided because of the cold in the house that it was perfectly fine. The seal on the top was not bulged either which would make me think the food might be turning. I agree about the bacteria growing faster.

      Delete
  5. Linda, Because it was factory sealed and your house is cold I'll bet it is just fine. Sour cream that had been opened would be an entirely different story.

    I have a lot of things around here that are past code. The code dates are generally a suggestion and many times the code is MUCH shorter than need be. A shorter shelf life equals more frequent orders. Food manufacturers are wearing their thinking caps.

    We each have to make our own evaluations and decisions. I am pretty sure I would have eaten that sour cream.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Janet,
    You are right about the short code dates and profits. I ate the dip with the sour cream and had no ill effects at all.

    If the house had been warm, I would not have eaten it at all.

    It is so hard hearing people talk about throwing out food past it "best by" as though it were a "use by" date, thinking that either date means the food will make them ill or kill them. Exbf turned it down flat. Later, he asked me if it was okay. He will eat stuff I will not, so this was surprising.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Since your house has been pretty cool and it was still sealed, seems good to me. You'd be surprised how many things don't need to be as carefully refrigerated as we think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Patti,
      Food companies have to be careful and people become paranoid.

      Delete
  8. Since it looked good and smelled okay, I would totally eat it. No question.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am a different Patti, FYI. Take care.

      Delete
    2. Patti,
      That was sort my thought. Oh, so many Patti around here. Thanks for telling me.

      Delete
  9. Kudos to you for taking the time to fully explore the opportunity to use it. I hate wasting food. That said, I would have dumped it directly down the drain and recycled the container.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Harpers Kepper,
      You made me laugh! Thank you. I do have strong ideas about what makes be cringe, but this was such a cold item. I do have a gag point. Thanks for the confidence and comment.

      Delete
    2. No one should be afraid of my food. If anyone were going to eat that without warning, I would not serve it. Remember, anyone would be warned so I could not serve it or give a person the chance not to eat the sour cream.

      Delete
  10. We would have eaten it. It wouldn't kill you anyway, even if spoiled. As someone already said, if it hasn't been opened, it is usually good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jane,
      Under different circumstances, I might have hesitated or tossed it. But, cold and unopened sealed it for me. Thanks for the input.

      Delete
  11. I think I would have also used it under the circumstances you describe, but only if I were going to use a small amount at a time. I've never gotten sick from sour cream or cheese, and I know I've eaten cheese that was left sit at much warmer temperatures for hours. I do tip-toe around milk, and I'll throw it away if it passes its best-by date. I do that for personal digestive reasons, though, rather than food safety reasons. Too much milk will make me sick even when it's fresh, which is a shame because I love chocolate milk.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jesshalinda,
      I left a chunk of Kraft chunk cheddar in the car for several weeks last summer. I turned it over once, tossed it in the refrigerator and ate it.

      I should not have so much dairy product, either. If milk goes bad, I just put some Hershey's Quik in it. You cannot smell the sour or taste it.

      You could feed the milk, cat, or chicken. I would find someone who wanted to feed it to a pet or wild animal. It would be good for the garden. Thanks!

      Delete
    2. I live in an apartment and have learned my lesson about feeding strays--I got a rabies shot this spring after absent-mindedly petting a pretty little stray calico cat that I had been feeding on my porch, who suddenly nipped me just hard enough to draw blood. Luckily, she did not have rabies and my brother adopted her when we couldn't find her owner after trying everything, but I won't make that mistake again!

      I think I'll start taking my "old" milk to work for the strays there. I work way out in the country, so we have quite a few of them running around the property. My boss will roll his eyes, but it will keep the milk from going to waste!

      Delete
  12. Many real cheeses do not require refrigeration. Just think about those big wheels of cheese that are often in those old country store scenes in movies. (Remember I worked for a food company) I often built Oktoberfest displays ....sometimes GIANT displays that were not under refrigeration.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Janet,
      Do the chunks of Kraft really have to be refrigerated? I told the store manager about leaving it out in the summer heat it the closed car. Her eyes got big and she said, "Did you REALLY eat it? You didn't get sick???

      It was funny that it still had the print of my hand and fingers when it cooled. It was one strange chunk of cheese when it was cold.

      Oh, I have had cheese from old country stores many times, and it was never refrigerated. And, none of us kids got sick.

      I think we are too afraid of things.

      Delete
  13. i would have eaten it without a second thought and i live in a much hotter place!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kylie,
      Yes, you do live in a much hotter place. This house was refrigerator cold that period. Right now, the house is freezer cold in here. Thanks.

      Delete

Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.