When we speak of ceviche, we always think of it as fresh, and that’s because this dish is meant to be served fresh. However, the thing about this dish is that it doesn’t cook through heat. Instead, it cooks through its acidic marinade, lemon, or lime juice. Thus, while it’s best when fresh, it’s also easy to spoil. So, you may ask:
What to do with leftover ceviche? When you have leftover ceviche, you should keep it stored in the fridge and consume it within two days or 48 hours. Since ceviche is not cooked through the heat, it can accumulate bacteria and spoil in a couple of hours. Thus, it would be best if you did something with it soon.
Serving ceviche fresh is the key to making it taste its best. Therefore, preparing such should only be done in portions that you can consume in one sitting. Sometimes, however, we prepare more food than we need, and this article says how to deal with leftover ceviche.
Throughout this article, you can learn everything you need to know about keeping your ceviche fresh. Using this technique, you can keep your ceviche for a day or two longer without it getting spoiled.
Without further ado, let’s get into it!
Table of Contents
What to do with leftover ceviche?
If you have leftover ceviche, you can always keep it in the fridge and extend its shelf life for a day or two. However, if you leave it exposed, you should consume the leftover within two hours. Here are some of the things you can do with your leftover ceviche.
Avoid exposing your ceviche in the open air.
The next step is to avoid exposing your ceviche in the open air for several hours. Pack leftover ceviche in an airtight container if it has been sitting for a while.
To avoid moisture, air, or germs from contacting ceviche and causing it to spoil faster, place it in an airtight jar or a container tightly covered with plastic wrap when storing it in the refrigerator.
Remove the marinade.
To prevent seafood from deteriorating quickly, you should prevent acidic components from entering.
By draining as much marinade as you can, you can avoid the seafood from crumbling down and becoming mushy or slimy after sitting in it for too long.
It would be best to keep seafood much longer than is necessary due to the acid in the citrus juice degrading its collagen.
Put fresh lime or lemon juice.
When serving over, add fresh lime juice to change the flavor. If you choose to do this, your stored ceviche will retain a hint of freshness.
Don’t let your ceviche remain at room temperature.
It usually takes 30 minutes or an hour to cook the fish. Then, while marinated, it continues to cook.
Even though it might still be safe to eat after sitting in the marinade for about two hours, the fish will begin to change in texture, and not in a good way.
Ceviche should be served as soon as it has finished marinating – we don’t recommend keeping it out at room temperature for longer than two hours.
Keep your ceviche in the fridge.
If kept carefully, ceviche can be preserved in the refrigerator for up to two days since the fish is cooked in an acidic combination and is not entirely raw. When not eaten right away, ceviche can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days.
Stop eating it if it starts having a fishy odor.
You should throw away any food smelling like fish right away. The ceviche can smell fishy if the seafood has spoiled and is no longer suitable for consumption.
Summary
In a nutshell, you should consume leftover ceviche within two hours after preparation or within two days or 48 hours after it’s been stored in the fridge. The fact that ceviche is not cooked in the heat can allow bacteria to grow and cause it to spoil in a day or two. It is therefore imperative that you take action immediately.
To make ceviche taste its best, serve it fresh. For this reason, portion control is essential when preparing such dishes. However, there are times when we prepare too much food, and we hope this article helped you deal with these leftovers.
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