Cooking with a cold
I have the beginnings of a cold, and was planning on making squash soup tonight. Will my cold be contagious through my soup if I give it to friends? Will it be contagious to my future self if I freeze some and eat it later?
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6 Comments:
If it is piping hot to serve (after freezing) I would think it would be fine, I don't think that if you use good kitchen hygiene you should have a problem. I don't think germs can't survive in the freezer.
Maybe one of our resident scientists can weigh in on this. I'm only a 'very good cook'-grandkids say so :-)
janaatwg at 10:57AM on 10/13/09
as long as you keep your hands washed and don't sneeze into it, you (and your buds) should be good. i wouldn't double-dip while tasting either. by the way, if you're looking for something to alleviate your symptoms some, then scroll back thru SE a couple of pages...they had a recipe for a cayenne pepper tea that might help clear you up a little. :)
gastronomeg at 11:08AM on 10/13/09
1) the route of catching a common cold virus is not by eating infected food. rather, the person is at risk if you eat with her/him and talk (viral particles can transmit directly from an infected person's respiratory tract to an uninfected person.)
2) viral particles can survive freeze-thaw, but not cooking. but you won't get sick in the future for reasons explained in 1), and also you won't get sick from the same virus you have developed adoptive immune system to.
so I'd say don't sneeze when you give the soup to your friends :-)
hmw0029 at 11:18AM on 10/13/09
I thought you were going to ask a different question, but I agree with the above.
When I have a cold, I'm usually extra-careful about keeping things clean in the kitchen, just to be on the safe side.
But I tend not to cook a lot when I'm sick. First, because I just want to stay snuggled under blankets, and second, because I learned my lesson with a horrible batch of soup I made. Since my tastebuds were off, I couldn't get the soup to taste right. I kept adding things. It was a bad idea. Really, really strange tasting soup. And not in a good way.
dbcurrie at 12:20PM on 10/13/09
Yeah, who am I kidding! Here's a chance for me to relax and take dbc's advice and not risk making bad soup. Couch, here I come. Soup, you can wait until the weekend.
LiveToEat at 3:50PM on 10/13/09
Absolutely no offense intended...but i wouldn't want someone with a cold to give me soup. :) That's just me though.
BakerPhlebo at 10:14PM on 10/15/09