Had a conversation with my wife today about the unopened mayo we had sitting in the pantry and it made me think – how does it make sense for a food (for instance mayo) to sit in a 65-70 degree pantry for months and be perfectly fine, but as soon as it’s opened it needs to be refrigerated. In my mind, if something needs to be refrigerated at any point, wouldn’t it always need to be refrigerated? The seal on the unopened product keeps the item safe, and the refrigerator does that when the seal is off? How do those two things relate?
In: 1789
Because before you opened it, the jar’s contents was in a sterile, oxygen-free environment. Once you open that jar, air containing things like microorganisms, mold spores, dust– knives carrying dirt and saliva from whoever licked the knife and then re-used it– the container starts collecting things– so you have to keep it refrigerated to slow / stop the growth of microorganisms and fungi from spoiling your mayo.
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