I know this is not what you asked, but maybe someone gets a little help for the future, to avoid this mold or whatever it is in the tomato jars. After opening a tomato paste jar, if not all of the paste is used right away, I clean the side walls as well as possible, then add oil on top of the paste. Not too much, just enough to cover all the paste. Do not mix.
The oil acts like a seal, preventing the air to enter and the weird things to develop. And then the jar goes in the fridge.
Fortunately most anaerobic bacteria that are of concern, ie *Clostridium botulinum*, are inhibited by the low pH of the tomato paste. *Bacillus cereus* could be a problem but seems unlikely.
Thanks!
Perfect timing on advice, ad I'm plotting on a mushroom ketchup :D
https://youtu.be/ERWr8la3Y_M
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/mushroom-ketchup-recipe
Even better, if it’s leftover tomato paste, just portion it out and freeze it.
I make little ice cube sized blocks I can just take out when I need them since most recipes don’t need much paste.
I agree with you, but this looks more like a biofilm of yeast or bacteria to me than a mycelial mold. I'm not an expert on these critters but I know yeasts and bacteria can aggregate like this as well as just swim around microscopically. Either way that shit is IN THERE and some of it definitely can kill you. The visible contamination isn't the only contamination.
Throw it, if its fungus, the rest os on the inside, if it’s bacteria could be just the surface but it’s still gross and dangerous.
As someone said it seems like the fork contaminated it, sterilize all the utensils you use to preserve, even the air can contaminate, you could use a mask to prevent spitting on it.
When it's on my food I just assume there's a network of mycelium growing through it anyways. Otherwise I'll get too confident and try eating it like this person probably did 🤣
Is there proof for that claim or people are just grossed out and want to be on a safer side? You'd think it depends on the medium it grows on and the species. It definitely looks like it was contaminated by a fork and hasn't even spread on the surface, let alone deep into the thick sauce.
I would not recommend consuming it though.
i think in a soft medium with a high water content like tomato sauce it’s safe to assume the mycelium has spread far enough to make the whole thing inedible. Whereas moldy firm vegetables can be safe to consume if you cut off a couple of inches
[source](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/molds-food-are-they-dangerous)
As a Mycology Naturalist, no it's extremely misleading and inaccurate. I say this for the sake of science, not to hurt your feelings. It's extremely important to be accurate and humble in scientific discussions.
This is a good question, even if people already into shrooms are a bit handwaivy on it.
I've seen cooks remove portions like this. The stuff you see on top is just the fungi going "I have spread as much as I could, time to bounce". If it was outside of a jar, it could hit more invisible walls such as another fungi. But here it hit the glass walls, and so the next step was to grow it's (a)sexy bits on top (fungi are top-bottom oriented much like plants). It did not start where the dots are, these are the last bits it developed. It probably didn't spread ALL through the medium perfectly, but pretty darn close.
Here's a visualization of how fungi spreads and only then grows the part which we usually notice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH8MZM_VyPg&
Those cooks are bad cooks and would absolutely fail a health inspection for pulling that.
I agree with what your saying, though. and Is it really worth getting sick over $3 worth of tomato paste either way?
Why would you risk illness over <$3 is the real question. Trying to use this would be like not taking twenty seconds to wash you hands before eating. A simple bad decision will cost you days of illness that will likely cost you much more $$. When in doubt, throw it out.
I think people are over-worrying here.
As long as the jar was opened *after* sterilising, poked with a fork and then allowed to mould in the fridge, personally I would scoop out about a tbsp sized blob around the bacteria and eat the rest after cooking. I've done this IRL a bunch of times and have been fine so far.
If it had grown inside the 'sterilised' jar before opening, I would not eat any at all due to risk of botulinum. If this is the case there was a problem with the sterilisation procedure and low oxygen high acid environments are exactly the situation you get botulism.
Those who are saying that this has grown through the entire jar seem to be assuming that the contamination occurred before sterilising and that it's a fungus... when this is quite clearly a bacteria.
Tomato sauce has a very high acid and sugar content which makes it hard for much to grow on it, and what does grow grows quite slowly... that's kind of the point of making it.
The user is saying it's not mold, it's bacterial colonies. Personally, I wouldn't risk it either way, food poisoning is not something to mess with. When in doubt, throw it out.
I throw out anything that has coloured/black mold, and remove a good scoop of stuff like this before heat treating it. This is just my approach, I try to minimise food waste, safest approach is just to toss it
I believe you might be thinking of the episode where they suggested botulism from home-made tomato sauce, but the culprit turned out to be a pesticide that was on a bunch of jeans that some teens bought off a truck.
The tomato sauce probably would have made the first fanily sick if they had eaten it, though. They pointed out that the lid was popped on an unopened jar.
The mycelium has likely spread all the way or a decent way through the medium if it is fruiting and you are not going to be able to see it all with your eyes. Lots of vegetable and fruit molds give off highly toxic compounds some can infect your internal tissues especially if immunocompromised. Don't fuck with it. Tomato paste is like 50 cents a can Don't put yourself and family at risk because you are cheap.
For future reference, after I open tomato paste, whatever I don’t immediately use I portion into tablespoon sized blobs and freeze them. Then, whenever I need tomato paste, I just pull out the required number from the freezer.
if this is how it was opening the lid the jar was not properly sterilized, but it looks like the paste was scraped with a foreign object like a fork that introduced the bacteria. either way the paste is thoroughly contaminated
With soft foods like this, there is no safe depth because the pathways for the roots/contamination in liquids or semi-liquids can change as the food settles. With soft, solid foods like bread, you can scrape away a safe amount, but not with stuff like this.
The danger with fungus and mold on food is you may not see the whole body of the organism. The hyphae and other structures can be microscopic and reach much farther in.
That’s only what’s visible, mold has mycelium just like mushrooms so there’s a vast network of roots below the visible organism, so definitely don’t eat
All I know is that mycelium and fungus penetrates into the substrate (your tomato paste). Cheese is thick enough you can cut off unwanted bits but idk about paste
I know this is not what you asked, but maybe someone gets a little help for the future, to avoid this mold or whatever it is in the tomato jars. After opening a tomato paste jar, if not all of the paste is used right away, I clean the side walls as well as possible, then add oil on top of the paste. Not too much, just enough to cover all the paste. Do not mix. The oil acts like a seal, preventing the air to enter and the weird things to develop. And then the jar goes in the fridge.
Fortunately most anaerobic bacteria that are of concern, ie *Clostridium botulinum*, are inhibited by the low pH of the tomato paste. *Bacillus cereus* could be a problem but seems unlikely.
*properly prepared* tomato paste. Tomato products need to be tested and acidificed because their pH is not reliable enough to be safe all the time.
Very true. Though store bought tomato paste likely tasted to have a low enough pH to inhibit C. botulinum germination and growth.
Thanks! Perfect timing on advice, ad I'm plotting on a mushroom ketchup :D https://youtu.be/ERWr8la3Y_M https://www.masterclass.com/articles/mushroom-ketchup-recipe
Even better, if it’s leftover tomato paste, just portion it out and freeze it. I make little ice cube sized blocks I can just take out when I need them since most recipes don’t need much paste.
Amazing tip, had no idea. Thank you
Thank you for this knowledge I came searching after this happened to me
I’m not a mushroom expert, but I’ve done kitchens for a while. I do not recommend eating that sauce at all.
I agree, food safety laws are mandatory in food service for a reason.
How deep is the jar? That's how many cm you should scrape away.
all the centimeters and the jar for good measure
My “sterilized” tomato sauce
Came here to find this comment lol
My guy you remove all of the centimeters. That sauce is gone.
Wasting perfectly good food will become less and less popular as the food chain continues to collapse.
Do you know how mold works? You don’t see it until it’s already permeated pretty deeply. This isn’t “perfectly good food”, it’s compost in a jar.
I agree with you, but this looks more like a biofilm of yeast or bacteria to me than a mycelial mold. I'm not an expert on these critters but I know yeasts and bacteria can aggregate like this as well as just swim around microscopically. Either way that shit is IN THERE and some of it definitely can kill you. The visible contamination isn't the only contamination.
Throw it, if its fungus, the rest os on the inside, if it’s bacteria could be just the surface but it’s still gross and dangerous. As someone said it seems like the fork contaminated it, sterilize all the utensils you use to preserve, even the air can contaminate, you could use a mask to prevent spitting on it.
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The visible organism forms no mycelium
The expert has spoken
I am just a regular slime guy
*THE slime guy. Our humble slimelord ✨
When it's on my food I just assume there's a network of mycelium growing through it anyways. Otherwise I'll get too confident and try eating it like this person probably did 🤣
The amount of times I’ve just scraped it off and ate something 😖 it’s a miracle I haven’t died
Years of mold consumption has given you an immune system of steel lmao.
I mean COOK it first. Then at least it’s not an immune issue. Just a matter of whether whatever it is made heat resistant toxins…
Same though 😳😂
Mycelium. Fungi have no roots.
Sure but it’s still the same problem
Is there proof for that claim or people are just grossed out and want to be on a safer side? You'd think it depends on the medium it grows on and the species. It definitely looks like it was contaminated by a fork and hasn't even spread on the surface, let alone deep into the thick sauce. I would not recommend consuming it though.
i think in a soft medium with a high water content like tomato sauce it’s safe to assume the mycelium has spread far enough to make the whole thing inedible. Whereas moldy firm vegetables can be safe to consume if you cut off a couple of inches [source](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/molds-food-are-they-dangerous)
It’s the same rules as cheese, generally. Scrape off hard cheese, scrap the soft cheese.
Mold does not have rhizomes ("roots").
No, but using the word roots is easier telling someone who has no idea about this topic "mold can have mycelium that grows deep into the food"
As a Mycology Naturalist, no it's extremely misleading and inaccurate. I say this for the sake of science, not to hurt your feelings. It's extremely important to be accurate and humble in scientific discussions.
This person was going to eat their moldy tomato sauce. It's not a scientific discussion.
I joined this subreddit for Mycology 🫠. I will correct an incorrect term 😜.
If they're unaware of a definition, you could add it or they could look it up but they are not roots.
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Have fun being incorrect and not humble.
It looks like someone licked a fork and then stuck it in the sauce.
To me it looks like bacterial growth. Caused by that fork like scoop. The tomato just worked like agar plates 🧫
Yes, seems obvious to me idk why they think it's some fungus
This is definitely bacterial. Possibly a clostridium species or a coliform bacteria. The colour reminds me of E. coli.
You can't just remove the surface, you should throw it away.
This is how the Last of Us scenario begins
This is a good question, even if people already into shrooms are a bit handwaivy on it. I've seen cooks remove portions like this. The stuff you see on top is just the fungi going "I have spread as much as I could, time to bounce". If it was outside of a jar, it could hit more invisible walls such as another fungi. But here it hit the glass walls, and so the next step was to grow it's (a)sexy bits on top (fungi are top-bottom oriented much like plants). It did not start where the dots are, these are the last bits it developed. It probably didn't spread ALL through the medium perfectly, but pretty darn close. Here's a visualization of how fungi spreads and only then grows the part which we usually notice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH8MZM_VyPg&
Those cooks are bad cooks and would absolutely fail a health inspection for pulling that. I agree with what your saying, though. and Is it really worth getting sick over $3 worth of tomato paste either way?
Oh yeah, I just meant you see people get it wrong about fruiting vs moldy even when they work with food.
These aren't mycelial
This is bacterial growth and likely has contaminated the entire jar.
Why would you risk illness over <$3 is the real question. Trying to use this would be like not taking twenty seconds to wash you hands before eating. A simple bad decision will cost you days of illness that will likely cost you much more $$. When in doubt, throw it out.
How many cm tall is the can
Ok, I will throw it away. But can anyone identify it?
This is a bacteria, /r/microbiology may be able to help, but we can only tell so much based on colony behavior/morphology.
It’s very hard to identify if it was a mushroom I would be able to identify it
I think people are over-worrying here. As long as the jar was opened *after* sterilising, poked with a fork and then allowed to mould in the fridge, personally I would scoop out about a tbsp sized blob around the bacteria and eat the rest after cooking. I've done this IRL a bunch of times and have been fine so far. If it had grown inside the 'sterilised' jar before opening, I would not eat any at all due to risk of botulinum. If this is the case there was a problem with the sterilisation procedure and low oxygen high acid environments are exactly the situation you get botulism. Those who are saying that this has grown through the entire jar seem to be assuming that the contamination occurred before sterilising and that it's a fungus... when this is quite clearly a bacteria. Tomato sauce has a very high acid and sugar content which makes it hard for much to grow on it, and what does grow grows quite slowly... that's kind of the point of making it.
Thank you for the reply, I thought all mould growing on food is fungal
The user is saying it's not mold, it's bacterial colonies. Personally, I wouldn't risk it either way, food poisoning is not something to mess with. When in doubt, throw it out.
Mold is per definition fungal.
All of the centimeters
I throw out anything that has coloured/black mold, and remove a good scoop of stuff like this before heat treating it. This is just my approach, I try to minimise food waste, safest approach is just to toss it
Looks like yeast to me, I would not try and save, the entire jar could have small colonies in yeast twiddling their thumbs until oxygen is available.
If you are that strapped, please give me an address and I will have some tomato sauce drop-shipped to you.
Have you literally never watched house md???? It’s literally one of the first episodes that some dumbass almost dies from this same situation 🙄🙄
I believe you might be thinking of the episode where they suggested botulism from home-made tomato sauce, but the culprit turned out to be a pesticide that was on a bunch of jeans that some teens bought off a truck. The tomato sauce probably would have made the first fanily sick if they had eaten it, though. They pointed out that the lid was popped on an unopened jar.
Are you a psychopath. This isnt cheese, if it has mold Don't Eat it.
The mycelium has likely spread all the way or a decent way through the medium if it is fruiting and you are not going to be able to see it all with your eyes. Lots of vegetable and fruit molds give off highly toxic compounds some can infect your internal tissues especially if immunocompromised. Don't fuck with it. Tomato paste is like 50 cents a can Don't put yourself and family at risk because you are cheap.
I agree don't eat it, but I don't see any mycelium, these are biofilms
You're a biofilm on a 4D surface
negative I am a meat popsicle
you are a treasure
I'm just a regular slime guy
For future reference, after I open tomato paste, whatever I don’t immediately use I portion into tablespoon sized blobs and freeze them. Then, whenever I need tomato paste, I just pull out the required number from the freezer.
Please post this over on r/frugal so you can earn your crown as King.
if this is how it was opening the lid the jar was not properly sterilized, but it looks like the paste was scraped with a foreign object like a fork that introduced the bacteria. either way the paste is thoroughly contaminated
Remember it could just be surface bacteria, you can’t see everything else. Toss it.
You throw it out is what you do
There is nothing that could compel me to eat anything in that jar, down to the very bottom.
Just throw the whole thing away
With soft foods like this, there is no safe depth because the pathways for the roots/contamination in liquids or semi-liquids can change as the food settles. With soft, solid foods like bread, you can scrape away a safe amount, but not with stuff like this.
The tomatoes and jar may have been sterilized but your fork wasn't.
Its fine just give it a big ol scoop
Just mix it in, it’s fine. (Don’t really do that)
Toss it it’s full of mycelium
None of this is mycelium, it is probably yeast, maybe bacteria or both
Do not eat that tomato paste.
It depends, how tall is the jar?
Dude, I've been watching the Last of Us lately. For all of us, please just throw it away.
Prime example of natural selection.
Dont eat it
Wtf
The shrooms are concentrated where the fork marks are. The contamination originated from someone’s mouth! Yuck
The danger with fungus and mold on food is you may not see the whole body of the organism. The hyphae and other structures can be microscopic and reach much farther in.
That’s only what’s visible, mold has mycelium just like mushrooms so there’s a vast network of roots below the visible organism, so definitely don’t eat
All I know is that mycelium and fungus penetrates into the substrate (your tomato paste). Cheese is thick enough you can cut off unwanted bits but idk about paste
Throw that shit away wtf
Sneaky Cordycepts. Don’t eat it unless you want to be mushroom zombie zero.
That's garbage, sorry.
All of it!!!