We had a barbeque lunch yesterday at work and I brought 8 jars to share with my co-workers.

I got called away before everyone was finished eating and since I'm on call I never went back to the shop.

When I arrived this morning all of the half full jars of beets were sitting on the kitchen counter with the lids on.

There was no room in the fridge for them so I just put them in my work truck. It will be after 3 PM before I can refrigerate them.

Will they be safe?

If you used the Beet Pickles recipe (p.55) which is only beets and a 3:1 vinegar to water ratio then they will tolerate the hours without refrigeration a little better than if you used the Spicy Pickled Beets recipe (p. 87) as it also includes onions and is only a 2:1 vinegar to water ratio.

Personally I'd toss them. The beets will have turned soft and maybe even mushy.

Dave

The air temps never got above the 60's. Right after posting about 1 pm, I borrowed an ice chest and iced them down. So that made it about 24 hours after opening.

It was the recipe from p.55. They are still crisp, I tried cutting one with a fork. I may toss, I haven't decided yet.

Thanks!

The reason I wouldn't is today's recipes use more vinegar and with pre-cooked beets and a 30 minute processing time, I know those beets are thoroughly acidified.

Though, on a different note, when I go back to my oldest canned pickled beet recipe I notice that while it's a lower ratio of vinegar to water, the directions say "strong vinegar", so I'm assuming they meant something like 10%. Other pickles just say vinegar, so it appears there was an early awareness of the challenges the density presents.

Carol

Wish your co-workers had had a bit more respect for all your efforts. No need for all 8 jars to be opened and only 1/2 used. Nice of you to treat them. Hope it was appreciated by some of them.

Dave

a 2:1 (vin: wat) has 3.33% acetic acid and would have a pH of about 2.50 .

In either case it is overly acid medium. Even IF the acidity was cut down by half(just assuming) still the pH will remain way under 3. where 4.2 is the bench mark.

There were 8 tables, one for each table. They really appreciated them. This morning they all talked about how good they are and are asking for more.

They would have put them away in an ice chest since the fridge was full if they had known that I wasn't coming back that day.

I have plenty more, I canned a lot!

I'm going to try some of the leftovers when I get home today. If you don't see any more posts from me you will know they are bad! ;)

In either case it is overly acid medium. Even IF the acidity was cut down by half(just assuming) still the pH will remain way under 3. where 4.2 is the bench mark.

No because you didn't include the pH of the beets or the water they contain or the other contents of the jar - all of which contribute to the pH of contents. So the pH would be more in the neighborhood of 4.3 vs. 4.6 (which is the USDA certified pH of pickled beets) and since pH rises over time and rises much faster when exposed to heat the 4.6 batch could have crossed over the safe line. Plus they had been open to air and so open to contamination.

We don't just make this stuff up off the top of our heads seysonn. It is all well defined in the guidelines. You can choose to ignore them if you wish but disputing them based on faulty methods helps no one.

Dave

lets take a 1000 cc container. Originally it was filled 50% solution and 50% solids(beets). Again lets assume that 50% of the beets were actually water(not really solid).
We filled it at 2: 1 (vin. / wat 333 cc vin + 176 cc W + 500 beets) . But now (after sitting and leaching) we have:(333 cc vin + 417 cc w : 250 cc beets)
Now our liquid consists of 333 cc vin + 417 cc water: another words, we have 5 parts water 4 parts vinegar.
QUESTION: what is the pH ? The answer is pH <= 2.60.

Just let me show anther example as how pH changes:

A solution with 3 parts water and one part vinegar(5%acetic acid) has a pH = 2.72. A few table spoon of vinegar in a quart of water can have a pH of smaller than 4.

The reason for pressure canning is not so much that the acidity is hard to be raised, but because the acid cannot readily penetrated into certain food. So they take the high temperature rout to kill the bacteria deep inside the chunks.

Correct me if I am wrong.