The mustard burn is best preserved in the refrigerator.
Once opened, the mustard stays both at room temperature and cool, but the best place for it is a refrigerator. Adobe Stock / AOP, Tuuli Lindgren
Once opened, the mustard can be stored either at room temperature or in the refrigerator, but when kept cool, the bottle will keep best and the taste will remain the right kind.
– Mustard is characterized by a slight softening of the burn during storage. When stored cold, the burn also lasts longer, says Meira’s product group manager Juha Wathén.
Storage at room temperature is not a mistake, as long as the storage conditions are otherwise good or the taste is not disturbed.
– In principle, we promise shelf life, both in the refrigerator and at room temperature, until the best before date, but of course a lot also depends on the storage conditions.
Under the circumstances, Wathén means, for example, whether the bottle cap is properly closed, whether the mouthpiece has come into contact with food, whether the sun has allowed the bottle to heat up, or whether the refrigerator is even so cold that the mustard is freezing.
In the heat, a cooler bag is included
What about the heat of summer? How long can mustard be kept on the table if eating out in the heat?
– Mustard is not the most perishable product, but it is also good to follow general storage instructions with it. A cooler bag is a good tool in the summer heat, says Wathén.
The Food and Drug Administration recommends that foods that have been stored for a long time, more than two hours at a temperature in the danger zone of + 6 to + 60 degrees, may contain toxins formed by bacteria. It is therefore safest to treat mustard like food that requires storage in the refrigerator and keep it on the table for only a short time.