quick question anons
I bought a jar of preserved cherries for cocktails, but the jar says to eat within two weeks of opening
there is some mold on the surface of the water
apparently a sugar concentration of 14% isn't enough to inhibit it's growth
my question is, will the completely submerged cherries be safe to eat?
is the mold simply contamination from the air?
could I simply drain off the liquid and rinse the cherries?
it's frustrating, because I don't want to ruin my drinks with candied cherries, but I'm not drinking 100 cocktails a week so I need sour cherries that will keep
>tl;dr does mold on the top of a jar of 14% sugar cherries ruin them
>>7189219
>buy jar of cherries
>freeze some of them
If they're already the kind that's suspended in a 14% sugar solution, then you're not ruining the texture quality by freezing them, because they're already soft and mushy.
>>7189249
freezing them would be entirely acceptable if I was storing them to use in bulk
but I can't really defrost them one at a time, I'd have to wait ten minuits for every drink
and they would get even mushier
>>7189219
They're ruined. Toss in the trash.
The kind of mold you get in spoiled food is too toxic to you to consider risking it. Just getting vomiting can dehydrate you, cause severe enteritis and even hospitalize you in an ICU for beyond what your savings will like. Forget it. This is why the smaller jars cost more, fyi.
Nothing wrong with freezing it. It's already canned and kind of soft, as another anon said. Consider starting with frozen cherries and making a little syrup to order from a few, or using a cherry liqueur like Herring, or splash of chambord or even the cherry-ness of say an Amaretto.
>>7189255
Don't you have a microwave?
Or hot water?
>>7189255
>but I can't really defrost them one at a time,
Ehh, they wouldn't freeze like a rock, you'd be able to chip off a couple of them, and shake them into a drink. Or you can use ziplocs to do what you want, and even warm the outside of the ziploc under the tap to thaw it.
As far as needing 1 at a time, try to drink what is actually practical to drink, and go with phases like that. Got some frozen limeade and ripe bananas, well, then, it's daiquiri week. When you get some cream of coconut its that theme for the week. Olives til gone. Pickle some onions, for a batch of gibsons.
>>7189264
maybe they are ruined
I have just preserved my own food for a long time, and many kinds of mold don't indicate spoilage, or can simply be removed; I was just unsure about bottled cherries
for instance if you open a jar and there is mold in it, that's botulism territory and it should be thrown away and the glass smashed
but if you have something with a preservative fluid, mould on the top won't get into the liquid; it only exists where the air (and most often sugar) mix at the top of the jar
we just drain off all the liquid and rinse the fruit
not sure if it's scientifically safe or if we are just lucky, but none of us have ever got sick
I add the cherries as a sort of palate cleanser and to add a note of sourness, mainy for syrupy spirits like drambuei or amereto
sometimes for summer drinks where the sourness is nice on it's own
adding a sour spirit wouldnt really do it
>>7189268
>>7189271
that would just be adding nasty cherry much to my nice drinks
maybe what I'm aiming for simply isn't practical, I could accept that if it's the case; but maybe there are other ways of preserving cherries then bombing them with sugar
we grow our own in season, so if there were artificial preservatives that worked well I could do exactly what I wanted here
What if you froze the cherries individually in an ice cube tray? Then you could defrost them as needed.
>>7189307
that would be a reasonable option, thanks anon
>>7189255
Do you know how cheap those disposable plastic containers can be? Those little ones in the paper/plastic plate aisle. You usually get them from fast food places that serve sauce or dressings on the side. You can get the little ounce ones that work great, like a bag of 80 for $2 or something.
