Pickles: fridge or cupboard?

[tigerdriverII]

Ok. That was a boring title. But I am baffled by the instructions on pickle jars this Xmas - after opening, store in fridge. Surely the whole point of pickles is that they are preserves. And, ER, preserves can be kept out of the fridge.

If anyone can enlighten me, please do. Especially as DH keeps putting the fuckers in the fridge as that's what it says on the jar.....

I thought the pickling process preserved them until they were exposed to the air and then they are no longer preserved, hence the need to put them in the fridge?

But they are still under the vinegar. And this was done squillions of years ago before fridges were even thought of....

Was wondering same thing sadly, is it because they are no longer preserved once open?

Once you open it you put in the fridge, like anything else that is preserved until opening.

we put them in the fridge after opening or we would have to eat them quickly.

Cross post, maybe just money making thing from picklers, has anyone been poisoned from a pickle?!

Even in the olden days before fridges they had cool larders and ways of keeping things cold. Sure my nan said something about an ice man who came round twice a week. racks brains>

They didn't have central heating either.

I can't imagine a pickle going mouldy. And I check the grub at my mums frequently and know what mouldy jam looks like . But I cannot see how pickled onions etc could really go off, not unless they were left for a year or more. Why do they have to clog up my fridge?

Ok, when I was a kid we had no fridge but we did have a marble slab in the larder. But suppose I just kept my pickles cool. Do the fuckers need to be in a fridge? Sorry for the swearing but this has really annoyed me.

My nan (again) keeps gerkins beetroot and pickled onions in a cupboard and eats them, she also keeps jam ketchup mayo and other "fridge" stuff there to. I keep mine in the fridge and wouldn't eat hers.

I agree with you, tiger, the fuckers ought to be fine in the larder. That is where mine are too.

Your nan is right inneedof wrt gerkins, beetroot, pickled onions, jam and ketchup. They are fine in the cupboard. Mayo oughta be in the fridge though.

I waver about jam. Although as a kid I frequently ate it with the mould scraped off and I have to report that I never suffered food poisoning as a result And the only time I have had food poisoning was in Thailand after a very dodgy seafood meal and never as the result of my cooking or pickle preservation.

Jam, if made properly, should be fine for ages. Perhaps shop-bought jam doesn't have enough sugar to make it last. Mebbe.

I keep mine in the fridge, as I like cold pickles!

She does frequently tell me what do you think penicillin is made out of and no she doesn't get ill that often. Strangely she thinks I'm strange for refusing to put tomatoes in the fridge. Tomatoes should never go in a fridge as they loose all their flavour and go horrible.

I really want a gherkin now. mmm

hugo. I finished the Xmas pickles today, including a lot of gherkins, hence the thread

I've just made myself a plate of gerkins beetroot chutney crackers and cheese.

Blaming you OP if I get nightmares from cheese tonight.

Me and DH chat about this more regularly than we should

We reckon in ye olden days that was the point of pickles but now they stick in alsorts so should just follow their instuctions....

There are no all sorts. I think it's a conspiracy of lily lilylivered inneed I disclaim all responsibility but I'm sure you'll have a very yummy supper. I now remember that I have forgotten to replenish my pickles! I am still eating the ham cooked on Xmas Eve....

Ham'll be fine, for sure. It's cured, see! Plus, you'll have kept it cold too.

Otherwise....

Mrsbrrrr. I ate it and have survived. It was lovely. If it was off I'd have felt it by now plus I haven't given it to DH or DS as they have weaker consitutions than me