How long pickles last refrigerator

Can pickles go bad? Besides that, there are some situations that people find concerning but are perfectly normal for pickled cucumbers and other fermented products, such as sauerkraut. Those include:. Unopened pickles retain quality for about 2 years of pickling or a year past the date on the label.

For pickles that you buy in bulk from a barrel, eat them within a week. Everyone has their own estimates. Open the jar and give one a taste to check if the flavor is acceptable.

Open pickles taste best for 1 to 2 months if you refrigerate them but will likely stay good-enough for eating for another month or two. It all depends on how sour pickles you still find acceptable. The thing to remember here is that open pickles continue becoming sourer, so the longer they sit in storage after opening, the harsher the taste.

Al Roker -- he of Guinness World Record weather reporting fame -- once explained the biochemical process perfectly on an NBC educational program as a war between good bacteria and bad bacteria , in which the brine is the ideal battlefield for the good bacteria to gain a foothold.

Take it away, Al! We want a class of good bacteria, called lactic acid bacteria, to colonize the cucumber and start to preserve it, before the bad bacteria invades and starts to rot it.

Both sides use a form of natural chemical warfare, starting with fermentation. In fermentation, bacteria of all kinds, good and bad, eat and digest starches like the natural ones in cucumbers and other plants and convert them into sugars they use as food and fuel to grow and multiply. As soon as a cucumber is put into salty brine, the good microbe army has the edge. Basically, the brine -- remember, it's got the acidic vinegar -- becomes an idea medium for the good microbes to ferment the pickles without causing them to rot.

It also increases the acidity of the overall solution and gives pickles their distinct, sour taste, while simultaneously preserving the pickles for quite a while. Per Mr. The best place for your pickles is the corner shelf placed as near the floor as possible.

Make sure the seal on the jar is tight so that no air can come in. Unpasteurized pickles can become more acidic over time because of the chemical reaction, so you should avoid storing them in the pantry for more than several days.

Once you open the jar, you need to put pickles in the fridge. Still, the shelves on the refrigerator door are not the best choice because of the temperature changes when opening it. That may lead to blurring brine, and your pickles will probably go bad before the expiration day. Instead, place the jars in the fridge bottom, where the temperature is lowest and least variable.

If you buy pickles in a tin can, you should change the container once you open it. Avoid leaving an opened tin can in the fridge because pickles will change the taste and spoil quickly. When deciding to keep pickles in the freezer, you will need a container made of suitable materials. Try to avoid aluminum, brass, and copper ones. Placing them in an airtight plastic container, Mason jar, or even a zip lock bag is probably a better option. Lastly, you should use less sugar when storing pickles this way.

It will lower the freezing point when added in brine, so pickles will take longer to solidify. Always freeze smaller portions, so you can thaw as much food as you need.

Once you open the jar, you should use clean utensils to take pickles out of it. Never do that with your fingers even if you washed hands beforehand because you can contaminate the remaining content. Remember that all pickles in the jar need to stay under the brine. Otherwise, the protruding part may dry out, darken, and become inedible. Use a fork to push them down in brine before putting a jar back in the fridge. Once the expiration date passes, you can still safely use pickles.

If you eat spoil ones, you will probably feel that something is wrong at the first bite, either by pickle taste or texture. Anyhow, the home-canned pickles can cause food poisoning due to improper preparation process or high pesticide content in these veggies. Symptoms of food poisoning include fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

In severe cases, home canning pickles can be a reason for botulism. Signs of botulism include:. The problem is that symptoms appear after more than 24 hours of consumption, making the condition difficult to diagnose. There is no reason to freeze pickles since they already have extended shelf life, plus they become rubbery and gristly after thawing.

However, you can freeze cucumbers to make pickles.