Why do you think it's not okay to keep homemade
mayo, but commercial mayo stays in the fridge next
to forever? Real stuff lasts as long as Hellmann's.

Not really. Commercial mayo contains EDTA, a preservative that
prevents oxidation and therefore fat from going rancid.

With a one- or two-yolk homemade mayo, rancidity
shouldn't be an issue. Whenever I've made a batch, it
gets used in a day or three at the most. But mustard
seed should also act as an antioxidant and stabilizer
in scratchmade mayo.

Most food safety sites suggest a 7-10 day life, which is certainly
overly cautious. I know from experience that properly refrigerated,
it can last up to a month easily. It will eventually start to turn

I've not had that depth of experience. Which
reminds me - Rosemary keeps a big jar of
Hellmann's in her fridge. Problem is that she
was keeping it at 42F (5.5). Lilli's fridge was
at 39F (about 4). My preference is 34F (about 1).
What's relevant about that, well, when I'm in these
places, I do the majority of the cooking and do in
fact care about the quality of my ingredients, plus
I have qualms about unnecessarily throwing food away;
neither of these worthies is so concerned. We've
worked out compromises, Rosemary's is now at 38F
(about 3), Lilli's at 36 (about 2). In Rosemary's
case it took a case of food poisoning - her
granddaughter's farm sent a pound of frozen beef
stew meat, and she let it sit and sit thawing in
the fridge for a couple weeks(!) and then ate some.
This led to a 24-hour bout of the runs and an
accession to my demand that the temperature be
lowered. Her excuse - "I only ate one cube of it!"

yellow and develop a slightly rancid odour and taste. It can start

I.e., becomes commercial mayo.

going bad in a single day if left out though. It still won't

Almost any moist food will go off shortly if
left at room temperature.

normally make you sick though as the lemon juice and/or vinegar
effectively discourage bacterial growth.

I have to admit that my own mayo when made for
salads uses an extra dose of salt for that
particular reason.

Commercial mayo can last 3 or more months unopened and then at least
2 more if kept refrigerated after opening.

That's not a fully parallel comparison. Scratch-made
mayo can't be unopened!

The raw egg fctor is a canard - if you don't let
the shell get in contact with your yolk, there's
zero danger of the yolk being contaminated with
Salmonella.

The usual source of contamination is the egg shell coming into
contact with chicken manure somewhere along the way from nest to
table but eggs can (rarely) be contaminated internally when formed
inside infected birds. The incidence is estimated to be about 1 in
20,000 eggs and the acidity generally neutralizes the threat.

Hey - that's way more than I'd expect. Poking
around a bit, I found

While external and internal contamination of commercial
poultry eggs with Salmonella spp. was not found in this
Korean study, internal contamination with Salmonella spp.
may occur in 0.01% to 0.6% of all poultry shell eggs in
the United States (8, 17). Even though internal and external
contamination of shell eggs with Salmonella spp. were not
detected in this study, shell eggs are not transported and
sold under refrigerated conditions in Korea, and they could
possibly cause foodborne illness.
Prevalence of Salmonella spp. in Poultry Broilers and Shell
Eggs in Korea. YUN HEE CHANG, Journal of Food Protection
LXIII, 5 (2000) pp. 655-658

Nevertheless, such interior egg yolk contamination is
theoretically unlikely. Even under natural conditions,
the rate of infection was very small (0.6% in a study of
naturally contaminated eggs and 3.0% among artificially
and heavily infected hens). - Wikipedia article on Salmonellosis

So if 1 in 20000 eggs is contaminated, 0.6% of that is
1 in 3 million-odd.

you can wash your egg before breaking it

That certainly reduces the odds of infection from a dirty shell.

Should pretty much eradicate it.

... Pasteurization is murder! Won't someone think of the bacteria?

I've always maintained that a logical approach would
take into account the right to life of all critters,
the line drawn by each of us as our conscience sees
fit - nonhumans, nonprimates, nonmammals, non-warm-
blooded, invertebrates, microscopics, or unicellulars.
Not to mention nonanimals.

Caution: the below contains murdered nutmeg children,
soy sweat, maple tree blood, and fermented cane tears.

Silk Nog Spiced Rum Punch
Categories: vegan, holiday, booze
Servings: 6

32 oz Silk Nog
12 oz spiced rum
3 oz maple syrup
1 whole nutmeg seed for garnish
- optional, but pretty and delicious

Pour all of the ingredients into a large pitcher
and stir well. You can even whip it in a blender
so that it becomes frothy.

Chill and serve over ice, if desired.

Grate some of the outer edge of the nutmeg over
your cocktail using something like this zester.

Note: this would be okay with Kahlua

Ginny McMeans, Vegan in the Freezer
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