Real Life Cooking

Posted on May 6, 2005 at 2:52 PM in Uncategorized

I was cleaning out our spice rack today and noticed some expiration dates from 2002. Does anyone know how long spices can truly sit on the shelf? Most of them look and smell just fine…

3 Comments

  1. Renae May 7, 2005 11:46 AM

    In college I found spices that had *expired* in 1977 among my stash…I’m pretty picky about expired food but not about spices. Thing is, though, I think they do lose their spiciness.

  2. Jeannette May 7, 2005 7:49 PM

    Wow. I didn’t even know spices expired. I say keep ’em. It’s probably an insurance liability whatever thing. Though they may lose some flavor after awhile. I wouldn’t keep herbs that long as they are on a slow process of losing flavor from the moment they’re picked, but surely spices should be okay for a bit longer.

  3. bobw May 9, 2005 8:24 AM

    I’m convinced that having expiration dates on EVERYthing consumable (beer, aspirin, spices) is merely a ploy to get consumers to buy more stuff.

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