How long can you store borscht in the refrigerator and how?

The king on our table is borscht. The rich dressing soup is prepared according to a variety of recipes and is not for one day. Therefore, the question often arises about expiration dates and storage nuances. GOST rules are merciless; they force you to consume the dish within 24 hours. Is it really?

Let's find out the real shelf life of borscht in the refrigerator, the peculiarities of storing dishes in vegetable, meat, and chicken broth. At the same time, let's talk about freezing.

What affects the shelf life of borscht

According to GOST, which regulates the work of catering establishments, borscht, which is a complex seasoning soup, should not be stored for longer than 24 hours, even in the refrigerator at the permissible storage temperature (+2°C -+5°C). But most housewives are sure that this is not so, and prepare this dish for future use for 3-4 days, or even a week in advance. Which opinion is considered correct, and how long borscht can be stored, we’ll look into it further.

The shelf life of this dish is influenced by the following factors:

recipe for borscht;
set of ingredients;
the quality and degree of freshness of the products from which the dish is prepared;
presence (quantity) of natural preservatives;
correct storage.

The main factors influencing the shelf life of borscht remain the same for centuries, although each housewife has her own recipe for preparing it.

An important rule in the kitchen should be maintaining cleanliness, timely replacement of towels and sponges for washing dishes, in which pathogenic microflora develops first.

It is best to scald already washed dishes with boiling water, and the ingredients should be rinsed very well before use. If you use only fresh products, the finished dish will be of really high quality.

How long can you store borscht in the refrigerator?

If we talk about the benefits of the included ingredients, then within a three-day period they bring maximum benefit. Next, you should boil the dish. The total period is 6-7 days, if the temperature regime is maintained from +2 to +5 ºС.

The duration of its safe consumption will depend on the meat used in the preparation of the broth. The most perishable ones are mushroom and chicken broth.

Helps extend the shelf life of household preservatives, such as:

salt;
lemon acid;
vinegar.

Storing borscht with different ingredients

Borscht has many recipes. They come with meat, with beans, mushrooms, etc. How long borscht can be stored depends on the composition of the products.

The shelf life of meat borscht , even if it is refrigerated, cannot exceed 3 days.
Broths based on vegetables, mushrooms, and legumes reduce the shelf life of the finished dish to 1 - 2 days. The appearance of vegetables may change a few hours after preparing the first dishes, but this does not mean that they have spoiled.
You can store borscht in poultry

But not only the type of broth will determine how long you can store borscht in the refrigerator. The shelf life of a dish as a whole can be determined by taking into account the shelf life of the most perishable ingredients included in its composition.

After cooking, fresh cabbage loses its taste and presentable appearance after just 24 hours, while sauerkraut can “last” 2 times longer.

The use of natural preservatives (salt, vinegar, citric acid) allows you to increase the shelf life of first courses. Borscht is able to retain its rich red color thanks to the use of vinegar.

The order in which certain products are added to a dish is of no small importance. If we talk about seasonings, there is a rule based on which dry herbs should be added to borscht at the middle stage of cooking, and fresh herbs at the very end, after which the dish is allowed to boil for another couple of minutes.

Dependence on the cooking recipe

The recipe always matters and affects not only the taste, but also the shelf life of the prepared food for future use. If we talk about broths, then you need to understand that the first dish cooked in mushroom broth or bean broth has the shortest shelf life. It should be prepared in such quantity that you can eat it in 1 day. Borscht made with meat broth stays fresh for up to 3 days , and borscht made from poultry meat is a little less, or rather about 2 days . With all this, the richer the broth is, the longer the finished dish will last.

Greens added to borscht significantly reduce the shelf life , so it is advisable to add them immediately before serving. The natural preservatives available in every kitchen will help prolong the freshness : table vinegar, salt or citric acid. In addition, the dish will not spoil longer if you replace fresh cabbage with sauerkraut.

Storage conditions

To ensure that borscht retains its taste and appetizing appearance during storage, you should adhere to the following rules:

After cooking, the finished dish is kept for 30 - 60 minutes at room temperature (let it “simmer”). Then quickly cool the pan in a larger container with cold water and ice, and place it on the refrigerator shelf;
Borscht should be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature no higher than +5°C. At the same time, sudden changes should not be allowed;
It is undesirable to use containers made of aluminum, stainless steel, or plastic for storage (the best option is containers made of glass, ceramics or enamel containers);
the dishes must have a tight-fitting lid, and there should be no cutlery in it while the borscht is being stored;
To transport the dish, you can use a thermos after it has been treated with boiling water. Shelf life is no more than 6 hours;
to heat the first dish, pour part of it from a common pan into a smaller container. Otherwise, if you reheat it frequently, it will quickly deteriorate. If the whole pan of borscht is heating up, it is better to boil it for 5 minutes;
the quality of the product should be controlled. If the first dish made with vegetable broth has not spoiled within 1 - 2 days, it is boiled again, cooled and placed in a cold place again.

Repeated boiling may destroy some of the beneficial substances in the dish, but will help increase shelf life.

How to store correctly - conditions, place and container

The beneficial qualities and rich taste of borscht will remain for 1-3 days, only if the following storage rules are observed:

After finishing cooking, it is recommended to let the finished soup brew for 30-60 minutes, after which you need to quickly cool the pan and put it in the refrigerator. Place the container in cold water and add some ice.
The storage conditions for homemade borscht do not differ from industrial dishes - the temperature in the refrigerator should not exceed 5 °C. It is advisable to maintain a constant temperature background inside the chamber.
The correct choice of material from which the dishes are made is also important. It is optimal to use enamel or glass pans, after first making sure that the enamel is intact.
During cooking, be sure to remove the foam; microorganisms especially love it.
If you want to save space in the refrigerator, pour the finished dish into plastic food containers. Sterilize the container first. It is also worth doing if there is little borscht left in a large saucepan - boil it, pour it into a sterilized container (after cooling).
Make sure the lid is tight. A loosely closed soup will become a source of foreign odors and be at risk of infection by microflora.
No spoons or scoops in the pan! Interaction with metal will not benefit the soup.
If you want to take hot borscht to work, use a sterilized thermos, but do not keep the dish in it for more than 6 hours.
You should not reheat the entire volume of the pan before lunch. Pour out a small portion using a clean, dry ladle. Each repeated boiling will reduce the usefulness of the soup.

So, borscht in vegetable, mushroom and chicken broth has the shortest shelf life. Within a day, you should take it out of the refrigerator and make sure there are no signs of spoilage.

If the soup has not spoiled, boil it, cool it and put it back in the refrigerator. This will affect the usefulness of the product, because each repeated boiling leads to the destruction of useful substances. But it will help to prolong the freshness of your favorite soup for a short time.

Garlic is added either directly to the plate or to the pan, after which the dish is brought to a full boil, and then turned off

Tip of the day
Add a pinch of thyme (dry or fresh) to the pan with borscht - the taste will be unforgettable.

Freezing

Is it possible to freeze soup or borscht for storage? Many people are interested in this question, especially if the dish is prepared in large quantities.

Unfortunately, this type of storage is not suitable for first courses. Potatoes and cabbage after defrosting are an unappetizing mass, which not everyone will like. But freezing the broth is a very real idea. This will help save time for preparing borscht. You can also freeze the vegetable dressing separately, placing it in portions in small tight bags.

What determines the shelf life of soups?

Government services have established a shelf life of 24 hours for first courses.

It is allowed to put the remaining food in the cooling chamber of the refrigerator if the temperature there is not higher than + 6 degrees Celsius. At home, food is stored longer.

The shelf life of the product is affected by:

Cleanliness of dishes with stored soup , spoons - tasting the dish with a spoon that has already been in the mouth introduces bacteria that accelerates the spoilage of the product.
Cooking technology - various first courses are cooked for a certain time, the deadline should be strictly observed. Undercooked soup doesn't last long.
Ingredients - depending on the composition, the soup remains usable longer or shorter.
Volume of salt – the substance is a preservative, so a product containing more salt stays chilled longer, maintaining quality. Of course, you should not over-salt your food: this will completely ruin the taste of the dish.

Signs of sour borscht

The condition of the finished dish stored in the refrigerator should be checked every day. You can tell that the borscht has started to spoil by the following signs:

loss of color (the broth may darken or lose its bright color);
the appearance of an unpleasant sour smell, different from that produced by sauerkraut;
the formation of foam on the surface, especially if there are more bubbles during the boiling process.

If at least one of these signs is present in the first dish, its further consumption becomes hazardous to health. Such a product should be disposed of without trying to “reanimate” using folk methods. Especially if it is intended for children or people with digestive system problems.

When you don’t have time to constantly stand at the stove, an excellent way out is to store borscht in the refrigerator. The dish can be reheated and eaten at any time. But you should always keep in mind that the shelf life of seasoning soups is very limited. It would be the right decision to attach a sticker to the lid of the saucepan with the date and time the first dish was prepared.

Considering that individual components of borscht, including broth, can be stored frozen, you can prepare a tasty and nutritious dish in less than 30 minutes. In this case, it makes sense to prepare only the required number of servings, so that later you do not have to store the borscht, but always eat only a freshly cooked dish.

Can it be stored in the freezer?

The idea of storing borscht frozen seems very tempting. But unfortunately, some of its ingredients do not tolerate freezing at all , losing their shape. For example, cabbage and potatoes, after freezing and then heating, turn into an unattractive mass.

However, if a slightly spoiled appearance does not bother anyone, then the dish can be kept in the freezer, having first cooled completely and poured into clean small containers. Borscht can be stored in this form for up to 30 days . But still, the best solution would be to freeze not the finished dish, but the broth pre-cooked for it.

The count is up

If you look at the regulations, the answer may be very surprising. Soups spoil very quickly, despite the fact that they do not contain milk or its derivatives. Their shelf life is so short that if we follow all the details, it’s unlikely that you and I would cook them for our family for several days. If you follow the rules, you only need to cook them just before lunch.

In exceptional cases, they can be left at a temperature of 2-4 degrees. In 18 hours, the soup will not become a habitat for pathogens. At the same time, authors of cookbooks and experienced chefs believe that the shelf life of first courses is much longer. How long does borscht last in the refrigerator? In order not to harm yourself and your family, you should not prepare a lot of food for future use. Expect that you need to eat the first one, if not in one sitting, then at least 18 hours in advance.

How to tell if soup has gone bad

If food is stored properly, it can still spoil earlier than expected. To avoid poisoning, you need to know exactly when food becomes unfit for consumption.

There are signs that indicate food has spoiled:

The appearance of a whitish film on the surface. It is not thick, but is immediately noticeable. Bubbles of varying sizes are often present and form foam. The product may not have a bad smell, but it is no longer suitable for food.
Darkening of color. Broth always turns dark when spoiled.
Change in consistency. When a dish spoils, it becomes slimy when cold. If you eat it, poisoning is guaranteed.
Unpleasant smell. The sense of smell allows you to immediately identify a spoiled product. The smell of a dish changes when it spoils. He becomes unpleasant.

If even one sign is detected, you cannot eat the first one.

What you need to know

There are certain rules that every housewife must take into account. Of course, most of us are not professional chefs, but this does not relieve us of responsibility to family members. During storage it plays a role:

Temperature inside the refrigerator. It must be constant, this is the most important thing. The optimal mode is considered to be 2-6 degrees, and it is not recommended to change it upward.
Utensil material. A bad option is aluminum cookware. It is not advisable to keep food in stainless steel pans. And finally, keeping them in plastic containers is also unsafe, since toxic compounds begin to flow from the plastic into the first dishes.

Therefore, it is not enough to know how long borscht can be stored in the refrigerator; you also need to take into account other nuances. It is especially important to choose the right container. The best option is glass or enamel dishes. In this case, the food does not come into contact with the container material, and therefore remains safe for humans.