Since food with a pH value lower than 4.5 is too acidic to support the growth of spoilage bacteria, it's safe to store barbecue sauce at room temperature, in your cupboard or pantry. But unless you're following a recipe for pie dough, cookies or scones that calls for cold butter, there is no need to refrigerate it. Knowledge Article. Archaeologists in Egypt have found 3,000-year-old pots of honey that is unspoiled (thanks to acidity and absence of water), making it the most shelf-stable food in the history of the planet. Conclusion: Keep your ketchup in the cupboard, not the fridge. Raw meat, for example, has an aw of 0.95.

Conclusion: Store bar chocolate at room temperature, tightly sealed.

Conclusion: Keep your BBQ sauce anywhere you want.

Butter is mostly fat and contains very little protein—not enough to support the growth of bacteria.

Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks. Peanut butter can sometimes go rancid—particularly the natural kinds— especially when exposed to heat, light, and oxygen. Some of the best options include aged gouda, parmigiano reggiano, pecorino, aged cheddar, appenzeller (a slightly softer option that still does well out of refrigeration), Sbrinz (the oldest Swiss cheese), and Piave vecchio. six factors that contribute to the growth of bacteria in food, Keep your butter in a butter dish on the counter.

So you can cut away the moldy part and eat the rest of the cheese. Conclusion: Keep your jams and jellies wherever you want to. Conclusion: Keep your butter in a butter dish on the counter, not in the fridge. Conclusion: Store bread and baked goods in airtight bags or containers at room temperature if you'll use them within a week or in the freezer for longer storage. Bacteria aren't going to grow in it. If you see mold, just throw it out. Cut off at least 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) around and below the moldy spot.

Salted butter has an even longer shelf life. The ideal temperature for storing potatoes is 55 to 60 F, but if you use them within a week, room temperature is fine. 14 Surprising Foods You Don't Need to Refrigerate. Barbecue sauce has the same primary ingredients as ketchup: tomato, vinegar, sugar, and salt. But as long as you keep it in an opaque butter dish and use it in a reasonable amount of time, it's perfectly okay to store butter on the kitchen counter.

To support the growth of bacteria, food needs to have a moisture content that corresponds with an aw value of .90 or higher. Soft cheeses like Brie often need extra time to mature properly and do not need to be refrigerated. Refrigerated honey will harden into an amber-like consistency that makes it impossible to squeeze out of a bottle. Conclusion: Store unripe tomatoes at room temperature. Can you eat cream cheese if it has not been refrigerated? Generally speaking, hard cheese is ideal for traveling or other situations where you won’t have a refrigerator handy. Jellies and jams do not need to go in the fridge because they have a water activity of around 0.80, and their pH is usually around 3. Conclusion: Store garlic bulbs at room temperature for up to a week.

Conclusion: Store uncut onions at room temperature for up to a week.

Because of its acidic ingredients (tomatoes and vinegar), ketchup has a pH between 3.5 and 3.9. Moreover, refrigerating honey is totally unnecessary. Refrigeration brings irreversible changes to the texture and even flavour of cheese, some more than the other, depending on the type of cheese.