I recently found a jar of pickles(Okay, Gerkins, but I’m not sure what the difference is anyhow) down in the basment. They’ve been there for years at least, because I can’t remember when I put them down there.
The jar has been sealed tightly for all that time and they’ve been floating in brine. Is it safe to eat them, or should I just throw them out?
Is the vacuum seal intact? If so, they should be edible, if perhaps a bit soggy.
I’m not sure. I don’t even know if it has a vacuum seal. It was pretty hard to open though.
Aside from mold, not much else can grow in pickling brine. As long as there is no visible fungus or any bubbles in the brine they should be ok. But pickles will lose their flavor over time and get mushy. I’ve had jars that I pickled and forgot about for four or five years. Out of curiosity I sampled them and found them edible but not very tasty so I tossed them out.
Trouble is, many modern “pickles” aren’t kept in pickling brine. There are people who don’t like the taste of 10% NaCl, so manufacturers decrease the salt content, and retard spoilage by other means, including sterile packing. If there’s no vacuum, the conatiner may have been breeched.
When in doubt, toss it out.
I know you’re looking for an answer to the underlying question (“Do pickles ever go bad”) but from a practical standpoint a jar of Clausens costs what? Four bucks maybe? Not worth the gamble with food poisoning or Dill Disease or whatever you could get.
Depends where you are. In the US, if you say “pickles” it seems you’ll be generally understood to mean gerkins. In the UK, for instance, you’d have to be more specific: we got pickled onions, pickled red cabbage, pickled beetroot, pickled cauliflower, pickled walnuts, pickled eggs – oh, all kinds. Mostly in vinegar rather than brine, though. There again, if you just say “pickle” most people would assume you meant relish.