Category "food-safety"

Shelf life of soft or medium boiled eggs?

Its easy to google and find information on the shelf life of hard-boiled eggs from seemingly authoritative sources. It seems roughly 1 week when refrigerated is

What meats can I serve medium rare and why?

It is generally accepted that pork and chicken must be cooked completely (unless put through a strong curing process) while certain cuts of beef and lamb can be

How to wash vegetables without running water?

I live in a subtropical climate where most people cook vegetables, rather than eat them raw, so when making green salads, I must be careful to ensure that every

Can meat and cheese be stored together?

My husband is constantly storing opened blocks of cheese in the same container as his summer sausage, also opened. He insists that they don't need to be separat

How to quickly prepare snails?

How to quickly prepare fresh snails? I've heard snails must be soaked in salted water for a few hours in order to remove the mucus but a friend of mine suggest

Are the Keurig K-Cups safe? [closed]

I have a Keurig machine at my home and in my office at work. I use them roughly 1-2 times a day, but today I started to think about the Keuri

Eating food from a slightly rusting cast iron dutch oven...is it safe?

I have a cast iron dutch oven. It has a self-basting lid, basically it has a grid of little cone shapes on the underside of the lid. The idea is that liquid con

Safety of old, unopened bottles of ketchup

I just found two bottles of unopened ketchup dating back several years. One says "Best used by September 19, 2008," and the other says "Best used by May 10, 201

Is the double boiling canning procedure really necessary?

It seems the usual procedure is to sanitize cans and lids by immersing them in boiling water, to fill the cans, and then to cap them and boil for a few more min

How long is sugar (mixed with minor ingredients) good for?

Over a year ago I made flavored sugars and have recently remembered them. They are basically a sealed container (canning jar) with a cinnamon stick, lemon/orang

I left stock out to cool overnight. Is it safe to use?

I made a Peking duck stock, strained it while hot, then left it to cool overnight. My apartment is 24 degrees C. In the morning, I divided it into smaller porti

How safe is it to harvest wild sassafras?

I am interested in trying to incorporate wild sassafras (roots, mostly) into my cooking. I have established definitively that the plants are sassafras, and not

Soaking liver in milk: in or out of the fridge?

When soaking pork liver in milk for 2 hours, should I place it in the fridge or at room temperature? I'm worried it might go bad, as my room is pretty hot in th

Can I leave a cake / cupcakes frosted with cream cheese frosting out on the counter?

I need to frost a cake and cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting for a late morning party tomorrow. I do not do a lot of baking so I'm concerned about when I sh

Knife cleaning: safe to do without soap?

Knife Skills Illustrated: A User's Manual suggests that knives can be cleaned with hot running water alone. "With sufficiently hot water, soap should not be nec

How do you wash fruit and veggies effectively?

When eating or preparing fruit and vegetables, you should wash them beforehand to get rid of pesticides, bacterias, fertilizers, etc. However, I notice that I (

Can salmonella show up in a raw-egg product once it has already been made?

I know raw eggs should be avoided, especially by sensitive people (children, pregnant women), as they may contain salmonella. Let's say I make a big tub of ice

Are nectarine seeds edible?

Eating a nectarine this afternoon, I found the pit was cracked open. Curious, I broke it apart and found an almond-like seed (or nut?) inside. I remember hear

Can most sour fruits be jelled by cooking with sugar?

I make jam all the time, using pectin. But the recipes only list a few dozen common fruits. Recently, I wanted to make crabapple jam or jelly, and I found a

Canning in a Pressure Cooker

Well, unfortunately the present my mom got me last Christmas turned out to be a pressure cooker and not a pressure canner. I've read that it is unsafe to can