When Salsa Explodes

[Ben]

Holy Guacamole Batman!

So I was just getting out the fixins to make some chicken burritos. I grabbed the salsa container - an unopened 3lb container that I picked from the refrigerated deli section at Costco last week. The plastic container was totally bulged out. When I unscrewed the lid, the plastic seal bubbled up like an inch, and tight as a drum. I obviously wasn't going to eat it, but I figured I would poke a hole in the plastic to release the pressure so it wouldn't explode or something when it warmed up in the trash can.

I barely touched the tip of a knife to it and BAM! Holy hell - my ears are still ringing. The thing blew like a hand grenade and there were even salsa chunks on the ceiling in the kitchen. The container itself didn't burst, but when the plastic film did, it was like a gunshot. I'm actually lucky in that not all that much salsa shot out. It could have been a real mess, but for whatever reason, only maybe a few ounces shot out. Still made a mess though.

I'm really curious as to what caused the gas build up. It was in the 20s when I was at Costco, so it's not like it sat in a hot car on the drive home. I guess I'm lucky it did what it did, or I would have eaten it and maybe gotten food poisoning.

Anyway, who knew that salsa could be a destructive device?

Did I mention that my ears are still ringing?

[Fly320s]

That salsa was going bad long before you bought it.

[K Frame]

What Fly said.

And Flies KNOW rotted food... 

I've gotten more than my fair share of... very questionable products... at Costco before. Sour milk, moldy yogurt, rotted fresh vegetables...

[HankB]

What Fly said.

And Flies KNOW rotted food... 

I've gotten more than my fair share of... very questionable products... at Costco before. Sour milk, moldy yogurt, rotted fresh vegetables...

I had a free Costco membership for about a year - only went there a couple of times and didn't renew the membership. The veggies at the local store ALWAYS were rotted and moldy. A bag of russet potatoes shouldn't look like they stuffed wads of cotton inside - the white fuzzy mold looked THAT bad.

And they stank.     

[Ben]

I've actually never gotten a bad food item at Costco up until now. Meaning nothing spoiled or rotten - I've obviously tried stuff that even fresh was not to my taste, but that can happen anywhere. I end up getting the sour dairy and bad veggie treatment way more at my little local market. They used to be good, but ever since the covid, their quality has gone way down regarding fresh items.

The only spoilage problems I've ever had at Costco was from buying more than I could eat before it goes bad.

My ears are still ringing.

[Kingcreek]

Never had a bad food item from Costco.
Had trash bags that weren’t sealed and toilet bowl cleaner with faulty spouts but those were returned and replaced without issue.

[Perd Hapley]

I'm really curious as to what caused the gas build up.

This is about a different type of packaging, but I think the mechanism is the same.

https://www.standuppouches.net/blog/why-does-food-packaging-bloat

Bloating is a clear indication that bacteria are present inside the packet. Bacteria feed on the contents of the pouch and produce gas. Since this gas cannot escape from the sealed packet, it accumulates inside and causes the pouch to bloat.

[Ben]

This is about a different type of packaging, but I think the mechanism is the same.

https://www.standuppouches.net/blog/why-does-food-packaging-bloat

Thanks.

This was the Jack's salsa BTW, for any of you Costco shoppers. I usually get the mango salsa (cuz you know, still got a little cali left in me), but they were out of it.

[WLJ]

I bought salsa the other day and it just exploded in my face when I took it out of the fridge... why...?
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/xnkgx/i_bought_salsa_the_other_day_and_it_just_exploded/

Salsa explosion! Man wants answers!
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2002/sep/05/salsa-explosion-man-wants-answers/

We dialed up Linda Harris, a UC Davis professor of microbes in consumer products. She said yeasts (maybe bacteria, more likely yeasts) in your salsa fermented, gave off their yeasty gasses, which blew up your container. What you bought (in plastic) was the so-called "fresh" salsa. It came from the refrigerated section of the store, over by the hot dogs and cheese. Remember? Guess not. And it says right on the label that you're supposed to store the stuff in your refrigerator. When fresh salsas are processed, they're not heated to temperatures that will destroy all microbes. They have a much shorter shelf life and must be stored in a refrigerator to slow the growth of whatever's in there.

[Ben]

^
^

Okay, yeast in salsa causing it is interesting. Also that it appears to be a not uncommon occurrence with the "keep refrigerated" stuff. Might be a good reason to pay proportionally more per ounce and buy in the smaller grocery store containers.

[charby]

^
^

Okay, yeast in salsa causing it is interesting. Also that it appears to be a not uncommon occurrence with the "keep refrigerated" stuff. Might be a good reason to pay proportionally more per ounce and buy in the smaller grocery store containers.

Or just make your own fresh salsa as needed.

[Perd Hapley]

Or just make your own fresh salsa as needed.

Now you're talkin'.

[charby]

Now you're talkin'.

Really basic fresh salsa

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fresh_tomato_salsa/

[Ben]

That actually looks good and fast to make.

[charby]

and if Ben kvetches about getting fresh tomatoes...  Canned tomato restaurant recipe.

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-restaurant-salsa-in-a-blender-228222

[WLJ]

Then the tomatoes attack

[Ben]

and if Ben kvetches about getting fresh tomatoes...  Canned tomato restaurant recipe.

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-restaurant-salsa-in-a-blender-228222

Why would I complain about something that's in my fridge all the time?

[charby]

That actually looks good and fast to make.

I got the older version of this food processer, it makes the salsa even quicker, well since you are just so busy 

https://www.cuisinart.com/shopping/appliances/food_processors/fp-8svp1/

[charby]

Why would I complain about something that's in my fridge all the time?

because it's in your nature. 

 

[RoadKingLarry]

Or just make your own fresh salsa as needed.

Wife and daughter canned 23 pints of salsa last summer. Tomatoes, peppers and onions all out of my garden. Good stuff.

[K Frame]

"Okay, yeast in salsa causing it is interesting."

Yeast and Lactobacillus are present in just about every food. Lactobacillus is what makes sauerkraut.

[charby]

Wife and daughter canned 23 pints of salsa last summer. Tomatoes, peppers and onions all out of my garden. Good stuff.

it is the best

[Perd Hapley]

My wife makes salsa from time to time. One of the reasons I keep her around.

[230RN]

I had a roll of ground turkey fall unnoticed out of a grocery bag in the car.  Didn't realize it until a couple of days, maybe a week, later it exploded with a rather loud bang.

I thought I had been hit by another car.  They really seal those things up in their plastic wrap and aluminum seals at each end.

I had to use my gas mask to clean it up, and the car smelled like hell for a week and I had to drive with the windows open. No way to close off that back area in a station wagon.

I was going to complain that the receipt showed the turkey and it hadn't been packed by the sacker but I hadn't got around to it yet.

[Ben]

"Okay, yeast in salsa causing it is interesting."

Yeast and Lactobacillus are present in just about every food. Lactobacillus is what makes sauerkraut.

I would expect that if the container was sitting out at non-refrigerated temperatures. I was surprised that it gassed up that quickly sitting in the fridge.