My grandmother left stuff out all the time in the very hot 'way down south in Dixie' part of the USA. No AC, windows open, and screens that only partially kept the flies out. Now, I would not DARE eat some of the things I consumed without a second thought as a child. My grandmother came from the era when a huge meal was prepared at noon, then left on the table (covered with a cloth) until 'supper time' when the workers came in from the fields, or later in that era, from the local mill.
Back when I first came to the UK in the early 90s, a demonstrator in a local Sainsburys asked me "what do you Americans keep in those huge refrigerators?".....my answer?.....EVERYTHING.
Recently I bought a bottle of red wine vinegar, which I use for marinating. Used some, then stored it in the cupboard, and it was only a few weeks 'old' when I needed it for a vindaloo marinade. Guess what? The biggest, nastiest clumps of mold imaginable...on vinegar. Cannot imagine that happening. Never in a gazillion years would I have thought vinegar needed to be refrigerated.
