How do you prevent soup from fermenting?

Answer 1

Traditional wisdom applies for prevention. Keep Hot food HOT and Cooled foods COLD. (yeasts don't tend to grow over 100 degrees, or below 40. Foods begin to break down and change the hour after cooking.). Let's add more rules for soup:

• If a spoon has been in your mouth - break an old habit - keep it OUT of the soup-pot

  once the soup has boiled.

• Use only sanitized utensils, pots and lids.
• Chill prepared soups between meals.
• Ladle some of the soup into freezer containers while still HOT to cool it all faster for freeezing and the fridge.
• If you can not use the soup within 2 days, label and freeze it for later.

However even with good habits, sometimes we are in a rush and soup gets left out overnight. Wild yeasts will begin to grow ~ to begin eating sugars 24 hours later - this is fermentation. Even putting it in the fridge the next morning may not stop this process. So what to do?

Once a soup has already begun to sour, you can:

• boil it at least 10 minutes
• and add red wine, salsa, re-fried beans and handfuls of crushed tortilla chips; curry, Kale greens, or Cilantro or other strong flavors that you like, to amend flavors so tartness is not the dominant flavor.
• You can also stir in cream, yogurt, Kimchee, or other amendments, salt, Pepper, hot sauces, or Asian seasonings to taste, as you like.
• Keep the total volume low, and use it all up quickly, as tartness tends to increase once it starts. Sugars will have broken down (by enzymes in the proteins) and this will be a very different soup than the first day...so make it into something you like - after boiling.
  
• OR just compost it...or offer the sour stock to a friend who can promises to boil and amend it the same day. You CAN develop recipes you like with sour stock.
  

Always boil and test sell and taste day-old soups, before you offer it to others, please. Use prevention, or boil, amend and use it up ~ while it still has nutritional value! Science in the kitchen is an excellent hobby ~ and knowing the rules, and developing good habits including sanitary methods, will save you money and feed you well....you may throw less food away. Bon Appetit!