Not the oregano or the peppercorns, but that jar of marjoram. And over there - that little can of cream of tartar. Do you even remember why you ever bought that?
I got a spice rack as a wedding present and it outlasted my marriage of 17 years. It probably held around 20 or so spices, and I’ll bet at least six of them were original inhabitants.
A few years ago I was making something that required a bullion cube. Having none, I asked my mom to bring one when she came over for dinner. She brought the whole container and something seemed, familiar, about it. After a few minutes I figured it out, it was the same container that had been in the house as I was growing up (and survived a move) and had an expiration date on it of 17 years prior.
In my house, I’d wager the oldest spice is probably 5 or 6 years old.
Brown mustard seeds. I don’t even recall what I bought them for. They’ve never been opened. It’s a big jar, too. They’ve got to be at least 6 years old, and they’ve moved with me at least 4 times.
Everything else gets rotated fairly frequently. I think the garlic salt may be getting up there, only because I’ve learned I prefer garlic powder + salt to jarred garlic salt, but it’s young enough that a few whacks on the counter loosens it up enough to run freely, so it can’t be more than a year old.
Since you mention it, I have a jar of cream of tartar that moved with us into this house almost eleven years ago. But I can’t throw it away - it’s still sealed!
My mother-in-law moved in with us a few years ago, and last month I went to look for some spices and found a can of French’s Nutmeg that she must have brought and sneakily placed into our spice cabinet (she does that). The expiration date was 1983, a full 10 years before I even had a place of my own.
Everything is less than a year old, and most everything has been bought since December. I go through my fridge twice a week, checking expiration dates, and I check the pantry (not just spices, but boxed mixes and canned goods too) a couple of times a year. I do this because otherwise, I tend to get things like stuff that’s been in the pantry for ten years.
I dont have anything in the pantry More than 4 months old besides the cream of tarter. I have no idea where it even came from.
I do have a can of Coleman’s mustard on a windowsill that is maybe 30 years old or so.
I think there is an international band of pranksters that carry cans of cream of tartar around and when people aren’t looking, they put them in their spice racks. Why, I don’t know.
Definitely the cream of tartar. It must be 25 years old. I’m wagering it’ll become sentient before we use any of it.
My spices are at most a year old, except for the Bacon Salt. The majority of the spices are probably less than 6 months old, as a spice shop opened near my house and I absolutely squeed with joy. I label the jars with when I bought them (on tiny stickers) so I know exactly how old they are.
Man, I keep forgetting to put cream of tartar on the shopping list!
I use it to make meringue, which I use to make easy gluten free cookies.
How long do spices keep? Is there a rule of thumb? I think we have some oregano in the freezer from the time my husband made a nice Greek chicken lemon soup last summer.
When my mother passed away, one of the first things I did was clean out the kitchen. The labels on some of the spices contained pre-zip-code addresses . . . i.e., prior to 1963. Since mom was a great cook, I’m guessing these were spices she never, or rarely, used.
Don’t ask me about her medicine cabinet.
Beginning in 2006 I got my own system of storing spices, so the oldest I have would be from then. But that would be rare, since I use a wide variety of spices, and are always replenishing them.
I just checked on the Cream of Tarter thing. I don’t have any, but I did. I threw it out a few months ago. My ex-wife used it for making cookies, but seen as how she hasn’t lived here in a few years and I had no use for it, I figured I might as well get rid of it.
Take a pinch out, let it come to room temperature and then rub it between your fingers. Does it smell like oregano? Then it’s fine. Does it smell like green dust? Pitch it.
Herbs will stay in the freezer longer than dried in the cabinet. How long depends on how fresh it was when it went it, how it was packaged and where in the freezer it is.
Dried Herbs are good for at least one year .. keep in mind these are seasonal crops. Whole spices ( pepper corns ect. not leafs ) can keep for years.
Meflin
I purged my meager collection a year or two ago, so nothing is older than that.
But for ground spices or powdered herbs, I’d probably give those 6 months or so. Definitely under a year.
Good point.
Not sure I would go that long for ground spices and powdered herbs. .. those thing fade fast if you buy them a grocery vs a spice shop they are usually all faded right at the start.
Meflin
The jar of cream of tartar is new (< 4 months old). I used up the previous jar making Snickerdoodles.
The oregano got tossed, because I rarely use it, and grow my own fresh now anyway.
Also recently departed, I think a pound of poppyseeds. A friend lived near some shop in Brooklyn that has awesome spices, and I mentioned I like poppyseed lemon cake, so she gave me a thoughtful, if overboard gift. I would expect something like that to keep well, but ten+ years?