Salsa

There are two quite different products called salsa and they do not store alike.

Jarred shelf-stable salsa keeps unopened in the pantry until its date, then about 2 weeks refrigerated once opened.

Fresh refrigerated salsa — the kind sold in the chilled section, often labeled pico de gallo — keeps only 5–7 days and must stay refrigerated the whole time.

Store either in a sealed container, and use a clean spoon rather than dipping directly. Chips carried into a salsa jar introduce starch, saliva, and bacteria all at once.

Do not leave salsa out at a party for more than two hours.

Salsa freezes acceptably for about 2 months but the texture softens considerably as the vegetable cells rupture — better for cooking than for dipping.

The difference between the two salsas is entirely about processing, and it explains the very different windows.

Jarred salsa has been acidified — usually with vinegar or added citric acid, to a pH below 4.6 — and then heat-processed in the sealed jar. That combination of acidity and a kill step is what makes it shelf-stable, and it is the same principle behind safe home canning. This is why USDA-tested salsa canning recipes specify added acid and warn against altering the proportions of low-acid ingredients like onions and peppers.

Fresh salsa has had neither treatment. It is chopped raw vegetables — tomato, onion, cilantro, chili — with some lime juice, and while tomatoes and lime are acidic, the mixture as a whole is not reliably below the safety threshold. It is a raw, moist, mildly acidic food, and it behaves like one.

Fresh salsa also carries the raw-produce risks of its components: cilantro and tomatoes have both been linked to Salmonella outbreaks in the US.

Signs of spoilage in either: bubbling or fizzing, which indicates fermentation by wild yeast; a lid that has bulged; a sharply sour or alcoholic smell; mold on the surface; and a slimy or ropy texture. Discard on any of these.