What happens if I don't refridgerate my olives?

[Alto Reed on a Tenor Sax]

I am trying to start a small home "bar," slowly but surely assembling my ingredients whenever I have a little extra money.

Yesterday, I bought olives and maraschino cherries, to keep for garnishes. The jars both say "refridgerate after opening." But I didn't really want to keep these jars in the fridge, where they would get lost or, God forbid, eaten in non-booze-related ways. I wanted to keep them segregated in the cabinet with the booze.

Will the olives and cherries go bad after I open them? Or is it just a liability issue that makes them put those instructions on the jar?

[Maine-iac]

They will go bad faster if you don't refrigerator them. I would think the cherries especially with all that sugar. But it won't be immediate, and it would be pretty obvious when it happens. (white fuzzy stuff grows)

I'd invest in a mini-fridge for your bar area for this sort of stuff, but if you don't want to, and you would use them up quickly, you should be OK I would think.

[JMO]

I've never understood this. The ketchup bottle says the same thing, and I have NEVER put ketchup in the refrigerator.

Just check for mold before you plunk the olive or cherry into the glass. And even that is unlikely, the olives are too salty and the cherries too sugary to make mold happy.

And I'll have a Shirley Temple, thanks.

[Maine-iac]

I've seen some pretty fuzzy olives. It's not that rare. I don't buy the cherries enough to be sure about those.

[violaactuary]

I don't know about the cherries, but I have also seen scary fuzzy olives before. I'd put them in the fridge.

[carrot]

I don't know about the cherries, but I have also seen scary fuzzy olives before. I'd put them in the fridge.
I've seen some scary fuzzy cherries, too.

[Kaia]

I have a scary fuzzy cherry




















. Man! That never gets old, does it.

[violaactuary]

wicked-scary fuzzy cherries?

[violaactuary]

After a quick google search, it seems that you can purchase "gourmet" green olives that are packed not in brine but in pure olive oil. Those do not have to be refrigerated after opening.

Maybe Kaia can help with the other food in question. :judge:

[carrot]

I have a scary fuzzy cherry


. Man! That never gets old, does it.:lol: Nice one!

[carrot]

:lol: Nice one!
The joke, that is.

[remilard]

After a quick google search, it seems that you can purchase "gourmet" green olives that are packed not in brine but in pure olive oil. Those do not have to be refrigerated after opening.

Maybe Kaia can help with the other food in question. :judge:

Olives which are packed in oil will leave a layer of oil on the top of a cocktail (not the end of the world but not the best aesthetically). Also you wouldn't have any brine with which to make dirty martinis.

[JMO]

New answer. Just buy the smallest size jars in the store. Throw away the old and buy new ones whenever you have opened them. The store will love you!

[REEB]

I have a scary fuzzy cherry


. Man! That never gets old, does it.

How many licks does it take to get to the middle of a cherry?

I can eat cherries all day long and never get tired of it.

[Loner]

Cherries scare me.

[Actuary321]

I've seen some pretty fuzzy olives. It's not that rare. I don't buy the cherries enough to be sure about those.Sounds like you dont buy olives often enough either. :-)

[Kaia]

I can eat cherries all day long and never get tired of it.

I have yet to see such a claim backed up.

[Maine-iac]

Sounds like you dont buy olives often enough either. :-)

I buy olives too often. I forget about the almost gone jar and open the new jar. Then I find the old jar a month or so later . . . .

[Polly Nomial]

Can't you buy individually wrapped olives ? :rimshot:

[Emily]

They have those really mini fridges now. You know, it's like big enough for a six pack.

[violaactuary]

You could just put your olives and cherries in a cooler by your bar... Just empty and replenish the ice every couple days.

[Lucy]

I read an article a few years ago about the "refrigerate after opening labels companies had (then) started putting on stuff like those little pickled onions. A rep from the company said it makes the product "look fresher" to pretend that it can go bad, basically.

The cherries are too sweet for anything really dangerous to happen to them. Eventually they'll get a little mold, and you can toss them and buy a new bottle. The olives are too salty for anything really dangerous to happen to them, too, although I have seen olives get fuzzy when left in the back of the fridge for a few months, so they might not keep as well on the shelf.

Of course, I've actually experimented with ginger and it keeps better on the shelf than in the fridge, so who knows. (Onions, too.) Just make sure the olives are complete covered in brine if you store them on the shelf - they will dry out and mold quickly if you don't. "Real" olives don't keep as well as those little plastic green ones you put in cocktails. Come to think of it, it's the olives on the surface that mold in the fridge, too.

I'm pretty sure my parents used to store the olives in the pantry, next to the catsup.

[Actuary321]

I would think the ginger and onions problem in the fridge was the humidity not the temp.

[silverfox]

I know some people willing to pay money for a fuzzy navel.

[Alto Reed on a Tenor Sax]

As I read this thread, it occurs to me that if I just double or triple my daily intake of olive- or cherry-bearing drinks, this ceases to be an issue.

[JMO]

This is off topic, but I have been wondering - What is it with the proliferation of candy-flavored martinis? Apple, chocolate, etc. Do they even use gin, or are they vodka martinis?

[violaactuary]

This is off topic, but I have been wondering - What is it with the proliferation of candy-flavored martinis? Apple, chocolate, etc. Do they even use gin, or are they vodka martinis?
I'm guessing that noone wants to admit that they know what's in an apple martini. I've had a chocolate martini before and I'm pretty sure it had vodka but I wouldn't swear. I think it was mostly Godiva liqueur and cream or half and half. It was ok but I would probably order one only on a rare occasion.

[Alto Reed on a Tenor Sax]

I have herad that "vodka" is the default martini now, unless you specify gin. What the hell?

ALSO: I went out for my birthday this weekend. I ordered a gin and tonic for my friend, and a gin (I specified) martini for me. They came in the same kind of glass, and they both had a lime. What the hell.

On top of that, she asked if I wanted it sweet, or very dry. I know the trend now is very, very dry, I just wanted moderately dry, so I figured if I told her "sweet," I would get the right amount. Her version of a "sweet martini"? She poured about a half ounce of vermouth in the glass, swished it around to coat the glass, and then dumped out the vermouth.

For the third time, what the hell?

[violaactuary]

I have herad that "vodka" is the default martini now, unless you specify gin. What the hell?

ALSO: I went out for my birthday this weekend. I ordered a gin and tonic for my friend, and a gin (I specified) martini for me. They came in the same kind of glass, and they both had a lime. What the hell.

On top of that, she asked if I wanted it sweet, or very dry. I know the trend now is very, very dry, I just wanted moderately dry, so I figured if I told her "sweet," I would get the right amount. Her version of a "sweet martini"? She poured about a half ounce of vermouth in the glass, swished it around to coat the glass, and then dumped out the vermouth.

For the third time, what the hell?

Our bartender does that swirling the vermouth in the glass and then disposing of it too.

Gin Martini with a lime is odd, but not odder than one time I ordered scotch rocks (in a cheap place in a college town mind you) and it came with lime... um no I sent it back. Next time we went there I ordered scotch no lime- the girl said, you don't like it with lime? :shake:

I drink vodka martinis, not gin. I don't know what the "default" is, but if I go to a place that is not my regular bar, I say "vodka martini" when I order it. I'm not going to just assume they can read my mind. :tfh:

[remilard]

Why is it that if you replace the olive garnish in a martini with onions it becomes a gibson but if you replace the main ingredient it remains a martini?

It is so easy to make a good martini yet so many places refuse to do it. I often order a dirty martini if I don't think the bar can handle making a regular one. You could also try ordering it 4-1 or whatever you like.

[JMO]

On top of that, she asked if I wanted it sweet, or very dry. I know the trend now is very, very dry, I just wanted moderately dry, so I figured if I told her "sweet," I would get the right amount. Her version of a "sweet martini"? She poured about a half ounce of vermouth in the glass, swished it around to coat the glass, and then dumped out the vermouth.


If you had asked for very dry, the recipe is to pour the gin and then whisper the word "vermmouth."

[UNCORRELATED LAY]

This is off topic, but I have been wondering - What is it with the proliferation of candy-flavored martinis? Apple, chocolate, etc. Do they even use gin, or are they vodka martinis?
Apple Martini - Sour apple liquor & Vodka
Chocolate - Godiva & Vodka
Almond Joy - Amaretto, Godiva & Vodka

AFAIK all of todays sugary martinis are made with Vodka and the default Martini is also a Vodka.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martini_cocktail
Another common but controversial variation is the vodka martini, which is prepared in exactly the same way as a standard martini, with vodka being substituted for gin as the base spirit. In the 1990s, the vodka martini supplanted the traditional gin-based martini in popularity. Today, when bar and restaurant customers order "a martini," they frequently have in mind a drink made with vodka. Martini purists decry this development: while few object to the drink itself, they strenuously object to it being called "a martini." The martini, they insist, is a gin-based cocktail; this variation should be designated as such, with the name "vodka martini" (it may also be called a "vodkatini" or a "kangaroo").

[foghorn]

Found this on a martini recipe website.



http://www.olivejuiceforsale.com/images/tini_ani.gif (http://www.olivejuiceforsale.com/accessories.htm#accessories)

[Alto Reed on a Tenor Sax]

Found this on a martini recipe website.



http://www.olivejuiceforsale.com/images/tini_ani.gif (http://www.olivejuiceforsale.com/accessories.htm#accessories)

Now that's a recipe I can respect.

I heard Winston Churchhill's recipe for a very dry martini was:
Pour the gin in the glass, let a ray of light pass through an unopened bottle of vermouth and fall onto the gin, add ice and stir.

[silverfox]

Where I worked, I probably would have been fired if I made martinis with vodka unless it was an apple martini.

[Alto Reed on a Tenor Sax]

Where I worked, I probably would have been fired if I made martinis with vodka unless it was an apple martini.

Wow...that is one classy consulting firm.

[UNCORRELATED LAY]

Where I worked, I probably would have been fired if I made martinis with vodka unless it was an apple martini.
You worked for Mercer too? GD those consultants were soo picky about their drinks.

[The President]

:lol: