Where Should You Be Keeping Your Ketchup? You Might Be Surprised By What Experts Say.

Ketchup is reportedly present in 97% of American properties, however the place within the residence ought to or not it’s saved?

Can or not it’s saved within the pantry after it’s been opened? Or does it want to remain within the fridge in between journeys to the eating room desk? And if it must be within the fridge, why do eating places depart it out?

These are just some of the questions that we — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, the co-hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Incorrect?” podcast — posed to Kristen Aiken, HuffPost’s editorial director of Life and Commerce, when she lately stopped by to talk about holding leftovers out of the hazard zone.

“There was an enormous debate over this just a few years in the past, and Heinz needed to tweet out and clarify themselves, however principally, in a restaurant, it’s completely different than at residence, as a result of the turnover is so quick,” Aiken mentioned. “They’ll undergo a bottle in a day, possibly, with so many individuals squirting it on their meals.”

However even for those who aren’t serving a whole bunch of company a day, your ketchup would doubtless do exactly high quality within the cabinet.

“Heinz, for instance, is shelf-stable. You must be capable to hold it not refrigerated for a very long time. Nonetheless, [because of specific factors that may vary from home to home like] the temperature of your room or sure storage circumstances, they advocate that you simply refrigerate it after you open it [to maintain quality]. However it actually is supposed to be shelf-stable.”

That’s due to the product’s excessive stage of acidity. Nonetheless, different manufacturers and do-it-yourself ketchup might not have the identical acidity stage and will must be dealt with in another way.

“There are all these new fancy ketchup manufacturers which might be natural, and so they most likely usually are not as shelf-stable, so that you simply should learn the label,” Aiken suggested.

Heinz UK responded to this condiment storage dilemma in a 2023 tweet. After studying that greater than a 3rd of respondents to an X (formally Twitter) survey had been holding their ketchup within the cabinet, the corporate tweeted, “FYI: Ketchup. goes. in. the. fridge!!!”

A spokesperson for the corporate added, “Though we’re conscious many Heinz Tomato Ketchup followers have been storing their ketchup within the cabinet, we do advocate refrigeration after opening. That is one of the best ways to keep up the scrumptious tangy style of our Heinz Tomato Ketchup that you realize and love.”

So, whereas it’s most likely protected to go away your bottle of Heinz out (and for those who do, consultants advise you need to devour it inside 30 days), if you would like your ketchup to style its highest (and who doesn’t?), hold it chilled.

Aiken additionally chatted with us about what you by no means need to do whenever you’re defrosting meals, the meals you by no means need to hold within the door of your fridge and way more. Take heed to the total present above or head right here to take a look at each episode of “Am I Doing It Incorrect?”

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Want some assist with one thing you’ve been doing incorrect? E-mail us at AmIDoingItWrong@HuffPost.com, and we’d examine the subject in an upcoming episode.