Suspicious film on surface of vinegar of pickles

[Tengu]

I invested in a huge jar of Gherkins and have been digging in periodicaly the last month.

last couple of times I see a strange film on the vinegar...mould?

The gherkins are fine.

Do I

-Top up the vinegar with fresh so the pickles are well below the level and ignore it?

-Remove vinegar and replace with fresh?

 

[sLAsh]

I would be surprised if it was mold. Vinegar is a very inhospitable environment for most things. Pickles used to be stored in open barrels. In fact when they put in a light rail commuter train in Toronto it went past the local pickle plant.
The pickles were in big open vats with just a roof overtop to keep the rain out and let fresh air in so the staff wouldn't be overcome by vinegar fumes. The company didn't like commuters seeing their staff climbing through the pickles wearing hip waders so their solution was large billboards to hide the vats from view.
Not sure if they are created the same way now or if regulations have forced them into making them indoors but it just goes to show you how vinegar kills most living things

 

[Macaroon]

Just eat 'em!

I certainly wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Tengu]

Thats an appeaking mental image but there are bugs that live in vinegar, arent there?

Im concerned over my pickles; a 1.3 kg jar is a big investment.

 

[mountainm]

Are you using a fork or dipping with fingers?

 

[British Red]

Thats an appeaking mental image but there are bugs that live in vinegar, arent there?

Not many. The reason we pickle food is because the types of microbe that spoil food cannot live in a high acid environment.

 

[Tengu]

I, um, use my fingers

 

[British Red]

Its probably just stuff off your fingers then

 

[mountainm]

Yup, finger dipping will make it cloudy.

 

[Barn Owl]

skin oils tengu, just get rid after 3 months from opening, that's the rule i use with my pickles ( well for others in the house anyway )

 

[Tengu]

not mould or anything nasty?

 

[Mike313]

I don't know if this will be helpful Tengu but I have just retrieved this from a dusty corner of my old and feeble brain. I remember learning something about acetic acid spoilage in the dim and distant past. Acetic acid is the principal acid in vinegar. One of the symptoms of acetic acid spoilage is a film or oily surface appearance. The main causes, if my rusty old brain remembers them correctly, are over-exposure to air, storage at high temperature, decaying/damaged foodstuff in the vinegar or 'contamination'. Could it possibly be oil from your hands or a utensil eg. olive/sunflower/vegetable oil whilst cooking etc?. This film should not effect the taste (to the point where most humans can detect it) so the pickles should be OK to continue to eat them. Since it's a large jar, as it empties, the air-space will become larger. Personally this wouldn't bother me too much but if you wished you could transfer them into smaller jars, such as jam-jars and top each up to the top with the vinegar. Then just open the jam-jars are you need them.

p.s. Vinegar is a good preservative and is self-preserving too. If memory serves, a bottle of vinegar unopened has a shelf-life of 2 years and is good for 6months to a year once opened provided it is stored away from heat and (I think) light. So in a regular pantry/cupboard etc.

 

[British Red]

I have eaten pickles and chutneys much, much older than two years - they have been fine

 

[Toddy]

I don't know what it is, but it seems to appear on jars of olives too.
I don't like it and am a bit wary of it, so I rinse any pickles or olives and pat them dry on a clean paper towel and then redo them with fresh vinegar or strong brine. Then I keep them really cold and eat them up pdq.

However, having looked around the net, apparantly it's really common, and the advice from chefs is just to spoon it off and top up with fresh vinegar....the stronger the better.
Others suggest loads of chemicals and some make comments about keeping the jar scrupulously uncontaminated with fingers or cutlery that hasn't been freshly washed.
I don't fancy the chemicals and my cutlery is clean, and some of my brined olive jars ended up with the same greyish scum.

Up to yourself; I know I'm a fussy besom, and Mike 313's comments make sense to me when even my nothingbutcleancutleryinthejar ones go cloudy too. Opening up the jar and letting air in seems to be enough.

I agree with BR that good vinegar keeps for a long time, and good chutneys seem to be fine for years (I opened a jar that was eight years old and it was delicious ) but I think a lot of modern vinegars aren't strong enough and they have built in obsolescence so that like Tam folks chuck them out after a couple of months while old style vinegar jars (like rumtopfs) were used for years.

Unless there's even the slightest whiff of sh1t when you open up the jar, it's probably safe to eat the contents though, regardless of how unappealing the grey scum looks.

M

 

[Kiwi Tim]

Big secret when preserving or pickling is to turn the jars with the hot pickle upside down to sterilize the top if the lid. Moisture can condense on the underside if the lid and form mould.

 

[xylaria]

I always thought the scum on olives came from the olives. A type.of tannin has precipitated out and it oil soluble. It does show the olives are breaking down though. Just eat them quicker.

I have had home pickled baby courgette get slightly scummy. They were at least nine months old and they had lost their crunch. I presume they got compromised at the bottling stage. The lid didnt go on properly or something. They were still edible (i didnt get botulism )but not nice so they were bin. Most of the batch were still fine after a year.

I find it better it keep stuff that is used slowly in smaller jars. I always remove pickles with fork.

 

[Tengu]

Thanks for your reassurance guys. Last time this happened I binned it. Now I know better