Mold on home-made Pesto

[sepandee]

Just before the weather got cold, I harvested all the basil i was growing on my balcony and it gave me a good batch of pesto. I was under the impression that pesto stays good for a long time, but I just checked both my pesto containers and there's some white mold on the pesto :(

What went wrong? I know I used enough olive oil. In fact, i doubled the recipe. So.... what the hell? A pretty sad day pour moi.

[alkapal]

TOSS IT!!!
only commercial pestos last a long time because of their processing.

[sepandee]

So should I throw the whole thing out? Or should I just remove a layer from the top?
I was 100% sure that pestos last a long time... guess I was wrong.

[dmd_kc]

As MikeG says, no -- it's not something that keeps. Throw it out. White mold can make for some extreme unpleasantness in something as heterogeneous and full of water and vegetable matter as pesto.

And as Pata_Negra says, it's very good frozen.

Again, throw it out. It has turned.

[KTinNYC]

Did you include garlic in this pesto? Raw garlic, if covered with oil, can be breeding ground for botulism so maybe the the mold saved you from something pretty nasty.

[MikeG]

Pesto is definitely not (traditionally) intended for long term storage and because it's low-acid, botulism is an issue and it's unsafe to can it without pressure canning (which would probably make it taste awful.)

By now, it probably wouldn't taste very good anyway - basically like any uncooked herb or veg, what it's been doing is slowly rotting in the fridge - but I wouldn't risk eating it for food poisoning reasons. Freezing is the only practical way to preserve it at home.

[Pata_Negra]

did you cover the surface with some extra oil before storing it?

i always freeze small portions immediately and finish up the pot in the fridge quickly.

[visciole]

I don't know about the mold, but you can freeze pesto easily, as long as you don't add any cheese. I make a big batch without cheese and freeze it in ice cube trays, then wrap the cubes.

[fmcoxe6188]

Maybe this is a silly question but why would freezing pesto with cheese in it be a bad thing?