Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Kitchen Natter => Topic started by: Growster... on November 03, 2013, 12:49
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Somewhere on the radio the other night, I heard an article which said that there are about 2 or 3 tons of dried spices which are past their use-by date, in jars in various kitchens throughout the UK!
Our record is November 2001!
What's yours...?
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I dread to think ... please don't make me look!! :D
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No idea, as I buy in packets from the local Asian stores and decant them into jars so I can keep the jars in the drawer away from the light.
I also have a clear out and restock in Jan of stuff that I haven't used much of.
I do get through the spices very quickly and have a rapid stock turn around.
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My spices seem to run out all the time. The only two that don't get a lot of use are the mango and pomegranate powder, but they definitely don't beat your record. I did find a tin of dried milk in the garage this week, no idea where it has come from. It is in a little tin of the kind you need a can opener for. I reckon it is a while since you could buy dried milk like that! Torn between opening it, just out of interest or keeping it for posterity! :)
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A box of cloves from 1966 ! :)
Did not really want to bin them last year . :(
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A box of cloves from 1966 ! :)
Did not really want to bin them last year . :(
"8"! You are a star, and the record holder personified!
Nobody will beat that one!
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I can't beat that. I use spices a lot and after a quick furtle, have discovered that they are all in date.
I have, however, found my bottle of Worcestershire Sauce has a best before date in 2010 :ohmy: That stuff doesn't go off right :unsure: Hope not as I have used it recently :lol:
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It matures .... like a good wine. OH was shocked when I finished a bottle of Tabasco sauce ... he didn't think anyone did that! :D
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OH was shocked when I finished a bottle of Tabasco sauce ... he didn't think anyone did that! :D
:lol: Tell him it's easy to do. :D
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I can't beat that. I use spices a lot and after a quick furtle, have discovered that they are all in date.
I have, however, found my bottle of Worcestershire Sauce has a best before date in 2010 :ohmy: That stuff doesn't go off right :unsure: Hope not as I have used it recently :lol:
Heck, News, I hadn't thought of this one...
...just checked, Nov 09, and Feb 04, with another one without a date at all, as it's been rubbed off over the ages...
:0(
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I can't beat that. I use spices a lot and after a quick furtle, have discovered that they are all in date.
I have, however, found my bottle of Worcestershire Sauce has a best before date in 2010 :ohmy: That stuff doesn't go off right :unsure: Hope not as I have used it recently :lol:
Heck, News, I hadn't thought of this one...
...just checked, Nov 09, and Feb 04, with another one without a date at all, as it's been rubbed off over the ages...
:0(
That doesn't get time to go out of date in our house - we use it loads. I especially love the extra mature/vintage version the famous company now do :)
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Too scared to look so I just use more. ;)
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Some cinnamon. I use loads, but this large pot was given to me by my American friend when we both moved and so lives in the cupboard and not the spice rack. Can't be bother to get up but our girls were 5 yrs old then and now they are.... :blink: 16! You can do the math :D
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Heirloom spices ! :)
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I especially love the extra mature/vintage version the famous company now do :)
So I have inadvertently made my own extra mature Worcestershire Sauce then 8) I can live with that :lol:
Not sure if I dare check the date on the Tabasco though ;)
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I especially love the extra mature/vintage version the famous company now do :)
So I have inadvertently made my own extra mature Worcestershire Sauce then 8) I can live with that :lol:
Not sure if I dare check the date on the Tabasco though ;)
Gulp...
Tabasco, August 2003...
:0(
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You beat me Growster :lol: Mine was 2009 but had gone a funny colour, so is now residing in the bin.
I can raise you gravy browning from 2010 and just discovered some liquid glucose on the baking shelf of the cupboard that was 2002 :ohmy:
Must have been having a Dehlia moment ;) I know at some point I did make the notorious chocolate truffle torte cake that caused the nationwide shortage of liquid glucose in the 90's, but can't think its has an airing since :lol:
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we use old spices as a pot pouree around Christmas, old cinnamon sticks etc, all in a bowl on the sideboard, cloves too.
We do have a bag of cinnamon sticks that we use that is maybe 10 years old as we only use a few sticks each year.
Grendel
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I completely emptied my spice cupboard recently, washed out all the jars and polished them up. Looks lovely :D
There were certainly some horrors in their (nothing like 1966 though :lol: ) including some dried lime peel strips dated use by 2004 :ohmy: You might well ask why I even bought them. It seemed such a good idea at the time :lol:
Our day to day ones have a pretty rapid turnover: it is those spur of the moment items that get forgotten once we are back from holiday.
Mind you, I am hoping that balsamic vinegar does not go off in any way, as I do have a couple of unopened bottles from 2009 .....
....... does anyone know?
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Sure it's fine :wub: :D
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Sure it's fine :wub: :D
Not sure whether to believe you Yorkie, or take this at face value...... :lol:
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Balsamic Vinegar by its very nature of acidity has a very long shelf life. Unopened, Balsamic vinegar can be stored indefinitely. Once opened, you want to store it in a cool dark place. After several years, the opened bottle may indeed start to mellow in taste, but it will not go bad. Sometimes you will find a precipitate that has a milky look, or a color change to it. There is nothing to worry about, and can be used. I have tasted some that are well over 70 years old, and it was absolutely magnificent.
http://askville.amazon.com/Balsamic-Vinegar-long-opening/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=4672599
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Thank you very much, MoS. That is good to know, especially as both bottles were gifts and quite expensive.
In my newly re-organised kitchen 8) they are easily accessible and will now get (safely!) used.
Thanks again :D :D :D
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When we cleared out my lovely dear aunt's pantry in 1995, we found some bottled fruit from just after WW2!
She was such a gorgeous lady, we just had to chuckle and bin it - running way in case the jars exploded!
Aunty Nip, you really were the best, and I was thinking of you only today!
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My Grandma had a bottle of Port in the cupboard that was reserved for a 'special occasion' and she would never let us open it. When she passed away my Dad said 'this is a special occasion' and opened it, we all took one sip and threw the lot away! On the spices front I daren't look at mine, I have three Schwartz bottles of Allspice and is now a family joke.
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My Grandma had a bottle of Port in the cupboard that was reserved for a 'special occasion' and she would never let us open it. When she passed away my Dad said 'this is a special occasion' and opened it, we all took one sip and threw the lot away! On the spices front I daren't look at mine, I have three Schwartz bottles of Allspice and is now a family joke.
Family jokes are the best, Wighty!
When we cleared out the parent's home there was just one bottle left from a case of pretty good red wine which I remembered being given to my dad thirty years before!
My dear sister, and I, with our spouses, opened it in great ceremony, and found most of it had turned to sludge, and after the first glass (which was nectar), the second glass was just compost...
Dad would have enjoyed that...
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My Grandma had a bottle of Port in the cupboard that was reserved for a 'special occasion' and she would never let us open it. When she passed away my Dad said 'this is a special occasion' and opened it, we all took one sip and threw the lot away! On the spices front I daren't look at mine, I have three Schwartz bottles of Allspice and is now a family joke.
Family jokes are the best, Wighty!
When we cleared out the parent's home there was just one bottle left from a case of pretty good red wine which I remembered being given to my dad thirty years before!
My dear sister, and I, with our spouses, opened it in great ceremony, and found most of it had turned to sludge, and after the first glass (which was nectar), the second glass was just compost...
Dad would have enjoyed that...
I was invited to pop round and try a Ģ60 bottle of vintage port in the 1970s, i got there as they reached compost level and the swines spent the rest of the evening telling me how good it was ! :mad:
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Granny E. had an ancient bottle of cointreau she'd offer every yuletide. The only thing she replaced every year was the advocaat. :D
When all the rest of the family went to the pub winterval day ::) she'd make us snowballs!! As a child (literally about 6) these were great!!
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Not spices, but I did decline my mother's Camden Tablets that were Best Before 1996 & 1997 respectively (She had also bought me some new ones).
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Not spices, but I did decline my mother's Camden Tablets that were Best Before 1996 & 1997 respectively (She had also bought me some new ones).
Oh Lor, I've got some old dried yeast and it says December 1989...
:0(
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Looked at my cinnamon today and it says BBE April 1996! ooops! :lol:
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Looked at my cinnamon today and it says BBE April 1996! ooops! :lol:
A tad dusty maybe :lol:
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I dare not look to be honest! :D
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My actual tins have lost their bbd in the mists of time, cos I refill them. I get through a lot of spice :mellow: The whole one last longer and are quickly wizzed up in an old coffee grinder. I 'm not keen on bought powdered spice - loses its perfume too fast.
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When I worked in the chemist back in the UK the Pharmacist used to get mad at having to throw out one lot of powders sold over the counter, canīt remember what it was called- he said it was thousands of years old and once it gets put into a packet it has to have a use by date :lol:
Pamela
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When I worked in the chemist back in the UK the Pharmacist used to get mad at having to throw out one lot of powders sold over the counter, canīt remember what it was called- he said it was thousands of years old and once it gets put into a packet it has to have a use by date :lol:
Pamela
Madness!
But I love that reading this thread has generated an advert for FOOD SAFETY STANDARDS!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
They're onto us!!!!!! :ohmy: :unsure: :unsure: :lol:
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Not this time Devon, it's still an ad for knickers..;0)
Spice of life, spice up your life, er - 'never mind the quality feel the width...'
;0(