[Snowdrift]

I left a whole, sealed container of ricotta cheese out overnight. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"><br><br>
Is it still usable? I'm not usually big on refrigeration--I'll leave out eggs and yogurt and such. Cheese is preserved milk, right? But ricotta isn't reallly cheese, is it? More just curds..<br><br>
Please tell me I don't have to buy more ricotta <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad">

 

[Clarinet]

I would eat it. Smell it, taste a little bit and if it seems fine, go for it.

 

[ThreeBeans]

I experienced food poisoning once. I wouldn't eat it if you paid me <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/bigeyes.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="bigeyes">

 

[ani'smommy]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>Clarinet</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7967848"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I would eat it. Smell it, taste a little bit and if it seems fine, go for it.</div>
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<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/yeahthat.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="yeah that">: I'd eat it.

 

[grahamsmom98]

Is the price of a container of ricotta worth the possible price of food poisoning?<br><br>
Toss it.

 

[blastomom]

My guess is that it's okay, but I still wouldn't feed it to my kids, just in case. After living in London and having milk delivered to the door and left out--sometimes all day--I now think that dairy has a much longer "warm life" than I ever used to think was possible.

 

[claras_mom]

If you're going to cook with it--make lasagna, for example--I definitely wouldn't worry. If not, I go with the pp who suggest smelling it and tasting it first.

 

[ThreeBeans]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>grahamsmom98</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7968382"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">Is the price of a container of ricotta worth the possible price of food poisoning?<br><br>
Toss it.</div>
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This. Trust me. When you're rolling around in agonzing pain for hours, sobbing, vomiting out one end and spewing out the other, with mind numbing abdominal cramps and you are thinking about finding a knife and ENDING IT ALL, you'll wonder, was the two dollars and thirty cents worth it?

 

[TigerTail]

Smell it & cook it if it smells ok. It's <i>cheese</i>, not sushi.

 

[amnda527]

<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/shake.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="shake"> uke

 

[becoming]

I wouldn't eat it. And I especially wouldn't feed it to my kids.<br><br>
Too bad you don't live near me, because I just found a container of ricotta in my fridge the other day that expires in a couple of weeks. Now I have to try to find something to make with it when my whole family is sick of lasagna.

 

[Snowdrift]

Yes, I'm making lasagna with it. Feeding the freezer, as they say. It's not the $2.30 so much as the hating to throw food out.

 

[messy mama]

I'd go ahead and make lasagna w/ it.<br><br>
This is really weird because I just bought some ricotta yesterday to make lasagna today. I accidentally put it in the freezer. So now I have frozen ricotta that I <i>have</i> to leave out to thaw.<br><br>
Maybe if we mix our ricotta together, they will counteract each other. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol">

 

[eco_mama]

ew, i wouldn't.

 

[utopia760]

id pass. dont think you should do it

 

[TinkerBelle]

Even if it is just cheese, you can still get a nasty case of food poisoning from it. Trust me, food poisoning is NOT worth the money the food cost, or the desire not to throw it. I understand not wanting to waste. Also, you can end up hospitalized with food poisoning if it is bad enough.<br><br>
Please don't do it.

 

[TigerTail]

the lactic acid does not make it a very hospitable place to cultivate pathogens, i would think. at least overnight at 72'f.<br><br>
where are our nt experts? i see a lot of food fear from americans who eat god-knows-what at restaurants or in processed food, but traditionally made artisanal foods that spend time outside (kim chee, miso) buried in a hole in the ground scare the crap out of them.<br><br>
give me cheese left out overnight over allowable rat turds per millionth in the hamburger. unless it's already listeria cheese or something, in which case fridge or no, it'll possibly make you ill.

 

[Laggie]

I'd eat it unless it smelled bad. Cheese is made at room temperature, isn't it?<br><br>
I'm not saying YOU should eat it. But I would. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol">

 

[fek&fuzz]

It was in a sealed container, and it's going into the freezer and then an oven. I would use it without a second thought.

 

[salmontree]

Since it's going to be cooked at a high temperature, I'd use it.