I knew some of the spices in my cupboard were old. The Dean and DeLuca ones in the adorable silver tins were at least 20 years old. I remember the boyfriend I was dating when I cooked him up nice meals with those. I hung on to them because the tins were so adorable and they were so expensive. Those were the days when I blew money like water. I knew I had to toss those. But there were dozens of others in my cupboard I didn't know what to do with.
This issue came up today because the sloppy joe recipe I was making today would have tasted really good with bay leaves and oregano but I left those out because I realized I didn't know how old those spices were.
After looking online, I found a great site, http://www.mccormick.com/Spices101/HowOldSpices/KeepingItFresh.aspx, that explains when spices are too old. Some start going after one year. McCormick says to watch the color, once the color fades, it's time to get a new bottle. Most of my spices looked pretty good. It was hard for me to tell by sight if they were no longer good.
But McCormick also allows you to punch in the codes at the bottom of the spices so you know just when they made a particular spice. When I punched in the Hot Madras Curry Powder, they told me that this particular bottle was made in August 24 of 1980! Holy smokes. The codes on some of my spices had faded, so I couldn't punch the number in, but McCormick also says that if it's made in Baltimore, it's 15 years old and should go too. "Blue spiked hair was fun for a while but don't hang onto spices from the punked ear," McCormick says.
This issue came up today because the sloppy joe recipe I was making today would have tasted really good with bay leaves and oregano but I left those out because I realized I didn't know how old those spices were.
After looking online, I found a great site, http://www.mccormick.com/Spices101/HowOldSpices/KeepingItFresh.aspx, that explains when spices are too old. Some start going after one year. McCormick says to watch the color, once the color fades, it's time to get a new bottle. Most of my spices looked pretty good. It was hard for me to tell by sight if they were no longer good.
But McCormick also allows you to punch in the codes at the bottom of the spices so you know just when they made a particular spice. When I punched in the Hot Madras Curry Powder, they told me that this particular bottle was made in August 24 of 1980! Holy smokes. The codes on some of my spices had faded, so I couldn't punch the number in, but McCormick also says that if it's made in Baltimore, it's 15 years old and should go too. "Blue spiked hair was fun for a while but don't hang onto spices from the punked ear," McCormick says.
