Christmas and the end of the year are unimaginable without potato salad, open sandwiches, and canapés at New Year’s Eve celebrations. We prepare many delicacies in advance and usually eat them for several days, like potato salad. But beware! Many foods harbor insidious microorganisms that can cause us a lot of trouble and lead to infections.
The wild combination of fried carp or schnitzel and mayonnaise potato salad has already sent many gallbladder patients to the hospital. However, microorganisms in the foods we buy and often store improperly can also spoil the Christmas season for us.
Potato salad, which some people eat for several days in a row, is a ticking time bomb. Homemade mayonnaise made from raw eggs can harbor the beginnings of salmonella, poorly washed vegetables can be a source of listeria. Insufficiently washed hands can reliably transfer coliform bacteria into the salad during chopping. Sterilized peas will ferment in the warmth within a few hours. And if we leave all this on the balcony for several days covered with a lid without air access, clostridia can also join in.
How to Properly Prepare Christmas Delicacies
If you already know in advance that you will be eating potato salad or open sandwich spreads for several days, definitely use store-bought mayonnaise. It is made from pasteurized eggs, so the risk of salmonella is minimal. If you add eggs to the salad or spreads, always cook them hard. Use fresh eggs and never wash them before storing them in the refrigerator, as this would damage the natural protective coating of the shell.
Also, use quality cold cuts that have a sufficient shelf life and are packaged in a protective atmosphere. Definitely avoid buying those with damaged protective packaging or suspicious color. Unwrap the purchased product from its original packaging only before processing. Two-day-old, slimy ham will surely spoil several pounds of otherwise quality ingredients.
Thoroughly wash all used vegetables and always chop them on a well-cleaned cutting board. People often cause infections by chopping raw vegetables with the same knife on the board where they previously cut chicken meat, which they do not further process. Insufficiently cooked poultry can be a source of salmonella or campylobacteriosis, which can ruin your entire Christmas holidays, including New Year’s Eve.
Another rule is proper storage. Keep any mayonnaise-based products in the refrigerator at a constant temperature of up to 6 degrees. This also applies to their preparation. If you are chopping ingredients for a salad while cooking a multi-course meal, always keep the other already chopped ingredients in the refrigerator. Add sterilized vegetables, such as peas, and of course mayonnaise, only at the very end. If you use sour cream or yogurt in the salad, it is definitely better to add them on the day you intend to consume the salad.
Hygiene First
Do you mix potato salad with your hands? Yes, in larger quantities, it might not be possible otherwise. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wash your hands well beforehand, preferably with antibacterial soap. And don’t forget thoroughly clean nails. Then definitely don’t go tasting the salad or spread directly from the bowl with a spoon.
