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Original poster

Restaurant coverup or true? Blue mould

28 replies

Justweemammy · 03/09/2020 06:55

Friend ordered raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake. First bite tasted bland and slightly warm. Then we noticed what looked like a 4mm area of fluffy blue/green mould at the outside edge. Ate no more. Waitress claimed other people noticed it too and it was just the fruit inside the cheesecake. We said raspberries are not blue/green unless mouldy. Manager then arrives with different explanation, saying “chef says it’s not mould as freshly made yesterday. It’s a reaction with the pot they use to make it”. No charge for the cheesecake.
Thoughts? Anyone heard of a bowl etc leaving a fluffy green stain on cheesecake?? Why would you use such a bowl in a restaurant if it makes it look like mould?!

OP posts:
Ilovenutellaaaaa · 03/09/2020 06:59

If you got two different stories from them then that would be enough to make me think they are trying cover up serving mouldy food..

pinkbalconyrailing · 03/09/2020 07:00

not fluffy, but some metals can leave a green stain on food.
I think they were trying to salvage the situation.
'freshly made yesterday' is not fresh ini

Hollyhocksarenotmessy · 03/09/2020 07:18

Some food can change colour. I once accidentally made a blue frittata thanks to the red onion. Red cabbage can change colour, and leaves bright green water behind when I steam it.
Raspberries - similar purple red colour. It could be a reaction of the red colour chemical to something.

Hollyhocksarenotmessy · 03/09/2020 07:21

Googling raspberries turning blue comes up with lots of examples. It's a reaction to something alkaline.

Pelleas · 03/09/2020 07:22

It sounds like mould to me. I suspect the cheese cake had been hanging round longer than the chef claimed. Probably harmless but not very pleasant.

StringyPotatoes · 03/09/2020 07:24

Using a metal whisk on an aluminium pan can turn good blue/green. Shouldn't serve it, though. It's the whisk shaving off the aluminium of the pan into the food and then the metal reacting with the oxygen. If the manager/chef were telling the the truth then what you found was not mould but rust.

Cabinfever10 · 03/09/2020 07:36

I'm a qualified chef and you've been lied to it was mould 🤮

ChanceEncounter · 03/09/2020 07:37

It was mouldy.

Pikachubaby · 03/09/2020 07:39

Yes, it was made yesterday, but some fruit were already mouldy

Raspberries very easily mould

MinnieJackson · 03/09/2020 07:43

Ew, never heard of a bowl doing that. Raspberries do go mouldy fast Confused

Whenwillthisbeover · 03/09/2020 07:48

The slight blue colour wouldn’t worry me too much, but the fluff would!

Pinkywoo · 03/09/2020 07:48

The fact it was warm is a giveaway, cheesecake should be in the fridge until just before being served to the customer, it was mould. Envy (not envy)

Reedwarbler · 03/09/2020 07:52

Raspberries can go mouldy very quickly, especially if they were already not fresh the day when they were put in the cheesecake, and even more so if they had been washed or were damp.
I like that - 'freshly made yesterday'. You could say 'freshly made last week', it still wouldn't make it fresh unless it had been made that day.
Did you take a picture?
I would be very worried by a restaurant either failing to notice mould, or then serving it and hoping the customer doesn't notice!

GnomeDePlume · 03/09/2020 07:52

Possibly chef made a cheesecake yesterday but what was being served wasnt that cheesecake.

sheepysheep · 03/09/2020 07:56

Hmm I work in the food industry and we once had a problem with some ready made deserts - they were fresh cheese cake with raspberry / blueberry topping made for a certain high end food retailer. It was a new product and when it launched they got lots of complaints about mould and mouldy discolouration on the product. I looked into it and discovered that as the knife sliced the big slabs of cheesecake into individual portion slices it was dragging raspberry / blueberry topping into the biscuit base as it cut through. The anthocyanins in the fruit (the chemicals that make them red / black) changed to a mouldy colour when they got to the biscuit base because the biscuit base is a neutral pH and at neutral the anthocyanins are greeny blue. It’s called a bachochromic reaction or something like that - basically colour change due to pH change.

So it may well be that... however if it was furry then mould sounds more likely.

mathanxiety · 03/09/2020 07:56

'Freshly made yesterday and never refrigerated'.

TeddyIsaHe · 03/09/2020 08:11

Yeah it was mouldy. They would have had them out during service to make plating easier and kitchens are hot and damp.

Beautiful3 · 03/09/2020 08:14

It tasted funny, it was green and furry. Yes it was mould.

ladycarlotta · 03/09/2020 08:14

I have seen raspberries and blueberries turn something like a cheesecake a greeny blue colour but it should NOT be furry!

CheetasOnFajitas · 03/09/2020 08:20

@sheepysheep

Hmm I work in the food industry and we once had a problem with some ready made deserts - they were fresh cheese cake with raspberry / blueberry topping made for a certain high end food retailer. It was a new product and when it launched they got lots of complaints about mould and mouldy discolouration on the product. I looked into it and discovered that as the knife sliced the big slabs of cheesecake into individual portion slices it was dragging raspberry / blueberry topping into the biscuit base as it cut through. The anthocyanins in the fruit (the chemicals that make them red / black) changed to a mouldy colour when they got to the biscuit base because the biscuit base is a neutral pH and at neutral the anthocyanins are greeny blue. It’s called a bachochromic reaction or something like that - basically colour change due to pH change.

So it may well be that... however if it was furry then mould sounds more likely.

And this is why I love Mumsnet! It doesn’t matter what you ask, there will be a genuine expert out there who can answer Smile.
ThumbWitchesAbroad · 03/09/2020 08:42

I was going to say similar - there's a really cool kids' science experiment you can do with red cabbage or other purple fruit/veg - mince it up, strain it and then you can change the purpley red colour to anything from deep blue through to yellow depending on the pH of the substance you add to it.

Here:

BUT if it was furry at all, then they're lying and it was mould.

SoupDragon · 03/09/2020 08:44

Yes, it's the furriness rather than the colour that would ring alarm bells for me.

I've had poached eggs turn blue with red cabbage in a salad so the blue in itself wouldn't necessarily be an issue.

Lovemusic33 · 03/09/2020 09:02

OP, did you not take a photo of said blue fluff?

I guess there excuse could be viable but why would they send food out to a customer that looked mouldy?

I have worked in many restaurants as a chef and would never send something out that looked mouldy even if it was due to the fruit. They should have apologised and offered a refund.

Funkyslippers · 03/09/2020 09:22

"Freshly made yesterday" that made me laugh. Why not just say "made yesterday"??

CheetasOnFajitas · 03/09/2020 09:34

@Funkyslippers

"Freshly made yesterday" that made me laugh. Why not just say "made yesterday"??
I think they were distinguishing between made in-house and bought in chilled or frozen.