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I followed all steps I saw online but the mayonnaise looked good at first but spoiled the next day. What would also cause the oil to separate from it??

I seperated the eggs first, putting the yolk in a mixing bowl. I added vinegar,lemon juice and water.. Then I heated for about 2 minutes, I removed and cooled. I added dry mustard,salt and cayenne pepper Then I mixed together. Slowly, I added vegetable oil teaspoon by teaspoon till it reached proper consistency.

I stored the mayonnaise closed and indoors. But there was a slight oil seperation, and water separation at the bottom of the jar. Then followed by a characteristic foul smell hours later.

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  • Not enough information. Emann you need to tell us exactly what ingredients you used, what steps you took to make it and how you stored it after it was made. link to the the online recipe if you can. what do you mean exactly by spoiled?
    – Alaska Man
    Commented Mar 22, 2017 at 9:23
  • Ok Sir.. I seperated the eggs first, putting the yolk in a mixing bowl.. I added vinegar,lemon juice and water.. Then I heated for about 2 minutes, I removed and cooled.... I added dry mustard,salt and cayenne pepper... Then I mixed together... Slowly, I added vegetable oil teaspoon by teaspoon till it reached proper consistency
    – Emann
    Commented Mar 22, 2017 at 9:31
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    Hello Emann and welcome! I edited the information in your comments into the body of your question. This should help you to get better answers. As you are a new user, I suggest that you take our tour and visit our help pages. Both can be found under the help dropdown at the top of the page.
    – Cindy
    Commented Mar 22, 2017 at 11:17
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    @Alaskaman sometimes a small amount of water is included, but I've never seen a recipe that calls for heating the yolks.
    – Erica
    Commented Mar 22, 2017 at 13:02
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    @Emann "I stored the mayonnaise closed and indoors" what do you mean indoors. Mayo must be refrigerated ( kept cold ) Also can you post a link to the recipe. this does not seem right for a mayo recipe. Water? and Heating? are not usually involved in mayo recipe's. Mayo is really just egg yolks and oil emulsified with some flavoring. Two minutes mixing does seem sufficient to emulsify. her is a link to Martha Stewart's recipe. marthastewart.com/340597/basic-mayonnaise
    – Alaska Man
    Commented Mar 22, 2017 at 13:09

1 Answer 1

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Mayonnaise - unless made by a recipe that is explicitly designed to yield a shelf stable version (as many commercially made mayonnaises are) - is not a shelf stable food. That means the common standard of unrefrigerated storage time of 2 hours max, or 4 hours if immediately consumed, is to be applied. So spoilage after room temperature storage of 8 or even 48 hours does not seem to be a surprising behaviour.

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  • Good answer. I've seen recipes, like Alton Brown's, that call for leaving the mayo at room temps for a while right after it is made to allow the acidity to kill off pathogens.
    – Sobachatina
    Commented Mar 22, 2017 at 15:32
  • “unless made by a recipe that is explicitly designed to yield a shelf stable version (as many commercially made mayonnaises are) ".... Can u explain specifically please??
    – Emann
    Commented Mar 23, 2017 at 7:07
  • If you buy a jar of mayonnaise, it can often be stored (unopened, or in some cases opened) at room temperature. Because it is made to a recipe and in a process that caters for that. It has to do with controlling acidity, pasteurizing or omitting the most spoilage prone ingredient (eggs), packaging hygiene and other factors....
    – rackandboneman
    Commented Mar 23, 2017 at 8:47
  • @Emann some recipes produce shelf-stable food, for example recipes for pickled cucumbers. There are also recipes which produce shelf-stable mayonnaise. Such recipes are rare, and typically you will know if you are using one of them (because the recipe will say so). If you follow a recipe which is not meant to produce preserved food, the rule is 4 hours at room temperature from the creation of the perishable ingredient to consumption. If somebody else handled the ingredient before you did (e.g. meat from the supermarket) the time is reduced to 2 hours.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Commented Mar 23, 2017 at 17:00
  • This answer says the exact opposite of this other highly-upvoted answer. Which is right?
    – Maximillian Laumeister
    Commented May 11, 2018 at 5:53

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