— Marilyn Brodhurst

Um, so this is a, a broad question. This is a, uh, a simple question, but a big question because it really depends on what we're talking about. And, uh, let me start with, um, the category that's probably most commonly, you know, a addressed here. And that is the, the typical left over food, food from a previous meal. Okay? Uh, in which case, uh, generally speaking, the shelf life under refrigeration is about a week. And, uh, so we're talking about seven days, okay? But do understand that, uh, it can be more than that, or it can be less than that, depending on a number of variables. And the variables include the food item itself. Um, some things such as legumes often have a slightly shorter shelf life, maybe six, five or four days, for example. Um, sometimes seven days, sometimes more, but, uh, very often a little bit less than that, uh, is gonna be a safer, um, approach when handling legumes. They tend to be, um, fairly perishable. Um, other things that are a little bit, um, drier and, and just, just other things, let's say that are left over, uh, maybe it's pasta. Uh, those things can certainly get to a week. Um, sometimes a little bit more, you know, other variables include the temperature of your refrigerator. Uh, you know, is it set at 41 degrees or is it set at 37 degrees? You know, that, uh, small spread of, in this case, four, four degrees Fahrenheit, um, can result in quite a few hours or even a few days difference. Again, depending on, you know, these, the food product and other variables. Uh, another thing to keep in mind is just where in the refrigerator the food item is placed. Uh, things that are in the door, or very close to, uh, the opening of the door, uh, will have a shorter shelf life versus an item that is placed further back in the refrigerator. It's just simply colder back there and consistently colder. Um, you know, think about as we open the garage door, or not the garage door, the refrigerator door, um, each time a little bit of warm air gets in a little bit of that cool air escapes, and the temperature increases just a touch. And, uh, so all of those little shifts and temperature will, will decrease the shelf life of foods that are placed in that zone, uh, which is close to the door or in the door itself. Okay? Um, it's very important, uh, because there are so many variables, uh, that we as consumers, um, practice, uh, recognizing foods that are good or not so good to eat. Okay? Um, I'm gonna talk about this, uh, I in a couple of different ways. All right? So, on, on one hand, there are, um, pathogens and in our food safety and sanitation unit or, uh, short courses, uh, and this is gonna be true at, uh, at any culinary school, the emphasis is usually on pathogens, and these are disease causing microorganisms. And, uh, so much time is spent on, uh, emphasizing pathogens, um, because the results can be dire, uh, ranging from very simple tummy ache and, and, uh, diarrhea, uh, to death. And, um, yet, uh, really, you know, the, the, the chances of of, of, um, getting caught up with a pathogen are relatively small. When we step back and look at the bigger picture of food that goes bad, okay? Um, or, or maybe I should say bad food. Uh, now the other category, um, that I wanna address here is spoilage bacteria. Okay? And this is gonna be much more common. And spoilage bacteria simply refers to the common bacteria, uh, or other microorganisms. It could be mold or yeast, right? Could be, uh, other, other such things that are, um, in our air, right, on our fingers, on just in our environment, you know, naturally. And that's just the way it is. Um, this is by and large what we're trying to control, okay? When we, when we talk about how long do things last in the refrigerator, um, if you can keep your items cool and, um, you know, uh, not handle them, uh, so much, uh, you know, with your, your, uh, your fingers, your hands also, uh, keep your saliva out of the, the containers because, uh, saliva has, um, enzymes that will start the digestive process and will quickly, uh, or more quickly start to break down food. Um, you know, uh, so if we keep the food as clean as we can, then we can maximize the shelf life, okay? But also keep in, keep in mind fundamentally that when we're dealing with, um, the first steps of cooking, we have fresh food, uh, we prepare a dish, that's really when that item is in its optimal state, okay? Of, um, quality in all respects. Uh, and as we put it in the refrigerator, it's going through an aging process. And so this idea of, um, trying to keep food, uh, or wondering, uh, uh, you know, just what the maximum shelf life of food is, uh, is a, is an effort of trying to preserve old food, okay? Think about that. Um, so let's do our best to, um, cook, uh, quantities that are most appropriate for our setting. And, um, if you have really an abundance of food, then maybe the freezer, right, is, uh, a good place to think about storing food, because we can then extend the shelf life into weeks and, and months. Um, but the refrigerator, and I would say really try to eat things up within a couple of days in order to enjoy the food at its freshest. Okay? Um, now, the, the second part of your question, Marilyn says, is there a good way to revitalize his appearance before serving? And here it really depends on what it is, okay? Um, you know, sometimes if it's, um, well, let's say as an example, it's a, um, uh, it's a parsley salad. Okay? I mean, in that case, uh, perhaps just, um, sort of tossing the item, you know, with a spoon to sort of, uh, fluff it up a little bit. We'll do the job. Uh, in some cases, if we have, um, a lot of vegetable matter, uh, in the salad, uh, the water will be drawn out as it sits in the refrigerator, uh, you know, in the, uh, in contact, uh, in contact with mayonnaise or mustard or vinegar or olive oil or whatever else you have in that, uh, in that dish, in that case, maybe, uh, to quickly strain that food, to get rid of the excess liquid is the best thing to do, okay? Um, in, in other cases, uh, maybe it's appropriate to, um, dress it with a fresh batch of sauce that you had originally, um, paired with that dish, but just a, uh, a fresh batch to make that dish look fresh again. So those are a few examples that come to mind. Um, but I'm sure there are just, you know, many, many other ways to handle different foods depending on what it is we're talking about. Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh,