top of page

Q & A - Pickling in-house

Updated: May 31, 2020

I'm wondering about pickling and when they 7-day shelf life applies. Can you explain why I had to throw away my pickled beets?

Thanks for the good question. I’m guessing there was a heat element and your product exceeded the 7-day shelf life. 


The short answer is once you add a ‘heat’ element to the procedure it becomes a temperature control for safety (TCS) and the 7-day shelf life would apply.




Example one - requiring a 7-day shelf life:

Blanching or fully cooking a product whether that be peppers, beets or an egg and adding a hot or cooled/cold brine.

Example two - requiring a 7-day shelf life:

Covering a raw vegetable such as cucumber, mushrooms or onions with hot brine.

Example three - 7-day shelf life does not apply:

When using a raw vegetable and adding a cold brine, the 7-day shelf life does not apply. We still encourage you to write the make date on the product. Let me know if you need more.


Here’s the long version from the Oregon Health Authority.

49 views

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page