1

I am from South Africa and we are currently having what our main energy supplier is calling loadshedding. Basically various municipalities have their electricity cut at relatively random times to lift the load. The news did not report any shedding for today, but as I finished making my banana loaf batter, the power went out. It will be out for anything between 1 and 6 hours. Do I leave the batter out while waiting or in the fridge? Contains baking powder, butter and eggs, so my questions are: Will putting the batter in the fridge for that amount of time effect the outcomes of the baking? We are in Africa, so atmospheric temperatures are high, about 36 Celsius today. Is it more risky to leave the batter out, in terms of food poisoning, or in the fridge in terms of outcomes of the baking?! Also: had I already put the baking in the oven, what would have been the best course of action? Take out and wait, put in fridge or leave in oven? (recipe asks for 50 minutes in the oven)

Linda Reyburn
  • 11
  • 2
  • 1
    Is the fridge running, or is it also offline? When the power goes out, it's best to not open the fridge until it returns, because it can keep itself cool enough for a while if the door is closed. (This doesn't really help your specific batter safety question, but if you are balancing a batch of batter vs everything else in the fridge...) – Erica Dec 05 '18 at 13:21
  • 1
    Hello Linda, this is a very basic food safety question. I suggest that, beside the linked duplicate targets, you read our short primer on food safety under https://cooking.stackexchange.com/tags/food-safety/info. Also, for the purposes of the second answer, your batter counts as "food which requires refrigeration". – rumtscho Dec 05 '18 at 14:06
  • Hello Linda, this is a very basic food safety question. I suggest that, beside the linked duplicate targets, you read our short primer on food safety under https://cooking.stackexchange.com/tags/food-safety/info. Also, for the purposes of the second answer, your batter counts as "food which requires refrigeration". – rumtscho Dec 05 '18 at 14:07
  • This question would be benefickial for people who suddenly lose power (ex: from a storm). My solution would be to toss the batter in the freezer and leave it there until the power is back on. The frozen foods will bring the temp of the batter down and keep it "food safe" (without actually freezing it). – elbrant Dec 06 '18 at 15:23

0 Answers0