How long will home made mayonnaise keep?

March 24, 2008 11:02 PM

How long will home made mayonnaise keep?

The recipe was pretty simple (with an intentional lemon emphasis): one whole egg, a little salt, lemon juice and a little more lemon juice, a tap of cayenne, whipped in the food processor with a cup of oil drizzled in.

How long can I expect to keep such a preparation? One week? Two?

I've never made mayonnaise before.

posted by slogger to food & drink (11 answers total)

I try to use it up within a week.
posted by foodgeek at 11:09 PM on March 24, 2008

One week, definitely.

That's the thing I don't like about home made mayo -- I use so little of it that even the lowest common denomination of mayonnaise (you can't easily use half an egg...) is too much for me to use in a week. Oh well.
posted by rossination at 11:14 PM on March 24, 2008

One week tops. Don't chance anything longer.
posted by HotPatatta at 11:53 PM on March 24, 2008

I've heard six days.

Is homemade mayo tastier than store-bought? I've been thinking about making some to see if it makes my boring turkey sandwiches a bit more appealing.
posted by korres at 5:11 AM on March 25, 2008

I heard 8 days.
posted by electroboy at 6:50 AM on March 25, 2008

These two sites suggest 3-4 days, which assumes strict refrigeration (raw eggs are about the best culture medium around and can be contaminated with Salmonella). For added safety you could use pasteurized eggs (your own or commerically available) which might extend the shelf life.

Is homemade mayo tastier than store-bought?

Absolutely!; and you can add things like garlic or blue cheese as suggested in my second link.
posted by TedW at 7:03 AM on March 25, 2008

Guys, these are insane recommendations! A week?! No! It's a raw egg cut with a little bit of acid. Use home made mayo the day you make it. The next day at the most. Then chuck it. It's easy enough to make that you should only ever make as much as you need for the current meal. Since it doesnt require a lot of whisking, you can do it in a small pyrex bowl or the like with a small hand whisk.
posted by geoffbart at 9:03 AM on March 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Mayo!!!!! Last summer (or the year before, I can't recall) I made some mayo from a very similar recipe and ate it on sandwiches over the course of two weeks. Never felt bad, and it was good stuff.

geoffbart - one day? Where's the adventure?

OP: Have fun with it! Don't let the outliers (myself and geoffbart so far) sway you. Maybe you should get some food testing strips and run a simple experiment.
posted by terpia at 9:13 AM on March 25, 2008

I generally eat it up within a week. If nothing else, the texture sometimes gets a bit oily after that. A day (or even three) seems paranoid to me. Also, I like this tip from Alton Brown:

Mayo is a really acidic environment (around 3.6) and acid kills salmonella (unlike the cold of the fridge which just keeps it from reproducing). The acid works best at room temperature, so he (and I) leave the mayo on the counter for a couple of hours to let it do it's bug killing work.

I think the Mayo Clinic episode is on Youtube, if you want to hear it from someone other than me.
posted by mostlymartha at 9:32 AM on March 25, 2008

Yep, AB said 4-8 hours on the countertop, then one week in the fridge. Thanks!
posted by slogger at 2:39 PM on March 25, 2008

I make it all the time (lifetime at least 50 preparations) and have never been ill from this or from anything I've cooked. I throw it out after a week, primarily for the reasons cited by mostlymartha, whose Alton Brown sourced wisdom on the acidity is entirely correct.
posted by kosem at 3:30 PM on March 25, 2008