# How would I know my belancan was off? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428 "2007-03-18T13:50:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/1 "2007-03-18T13:50:33Z")
Belancan = stinky prawn paste. I wanted to cook some laksa tonight and when I carved off a hunk of belancan I noticed it was out of date. It looked OK so I used it. There’s still a year’s worth of the stuff in the block. It’s “off” already, so you can’t go by the smell. I don’t keep it in the fridge, just wrapped and in an air-tight container. It looks the same as when I bought it. Is there a way to tell? ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/2 "2007-03-18T14:07:27Z")
From my wife: “if it’s not moldy, it’s still good” “_Belacan_ should be dry, if it’s not then it’s off” “_Belacan_ that’s gone really really off will have maggots crawling around it. Yes, maggots.” So, if it’s not moldy, dry and no maggots…you’re good to go. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/3 "2007-03-19T03:26:18Z")
No maggots equals good. That’s my kind of food. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/4 "2020-08-31T15:31:57Z")
Update, since I saw this skulking around in the pantry and remembered this thread: it’s **still** fine. It’s quite dry but I roasted a little chunk in foil and whacked it with some dried anchovy, peanuts and chilli paste, then used it to top a hard boiled egg. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/5 "2020-08-31T15:50:36Z")
The same stuff, 12 years later? 🤢 ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/6 "2020-08-31T21:36:11Z")
I’m working on a bottle of what I’ll call “thousand-year fish sauce.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/7 "2020-09-01T03:50:31Z")
Sounds like the spices my mom left in the house, that pre-date the use of ZIP codes in the '60s. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/8 "2024-11-15T02:53:20Z")
2024 update: Just made a dish using the same unrefrigerated bottle of fish sauce. Still tastes fine. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/9 "2024-11-15T03:02:05Z")
When my dad died last year, my sister stuck around for a couple weeks, and one thing she did for my mother was clean out the pantry. She found an open can of breadcrumbs in the back, exp. 2008, and they still looked fresh! Egads! They probably weren’t really safe to eat in 2007, either, if you think about it. Those went in the trash. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/10 "2024-11-15T07:10:12Z")
I have a small tin of white pepper I swear I bought the first time I ever bought groceries for my own house…don’t remember why. I considered tossing it many times. But I click it open. Still smells peppery, mildly. It’s like an old friend now. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/11 "2024-11-15T08:42:15Z")
Good. I also thought fish sauce wouldn’t spoil, but I had fungus growing in a bottle so threw it out. Maybe it was low quality fish sauce. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/12 "2024-11-15T09:00:34Z")
You would keep flalinig over. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/13 "2024-11-15T09:02:19Z")
This thread is a good reminder to clean out my pantry. There’s plenty in the back that my ex (and we’ve been divorced over ten years) bought, used once, and never touched subsequently. Neither have I. Fish sauce is one, and it’s just taking up space. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/14 "2024-11-15T09:04:26Z")
> [@Tusculan](#): > > Good. I also thought fish sauce wouldn’t spoil, but I had fungus growing in a bottle so threw it out. Eep! Now you’ve got me worried that any organisms in that back-of-the-pantry fish sauce have been there so long that they’ve developed their own political systems. Yep, out it will go. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/15 "2024-11-16T01:15:17Z")
> [@DataZak](#): > > _Belacan_ that’s gone really really off will have maggots crawling around it Wouldn’t surprise me if someone tried to make a Casu Marzu style “delicacy” out of that, Surely some suck-- er, I mean “Brave Soul,” would take the bait. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/16 "2024-11-16T02:18:42Z")
Where you’re eating maggot poop? Hey, anything’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/17 "2024-11-17T03:23:17Z")
> [@Tusculan](#): > > I also thought fish sauce wouldn’t spoil, I still have about a tablespoon of fish sauce left in a bottle I have probably had for 5-6 years. I’ve been using it steadily (obviously not very often, but a few times a year). It seems to have held up fine. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/18 "2024-11-17T03:28:03Z")
Years ago, I participated in a thread either here or on a related board about my ancient bottle of fish sauce. I can’t find it on either site with keywords _crystal, crystalized, fish sauce,_ or _nuoc mam,_ but perhaps some day it will bobble to the surface like something long dead. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/19 "2025-11-26T21:11:39Z")
I have just discarded the last half-inch of that nuoc mam. It was starting to taste just a little bit fishy, and we decided that at at least 35 years old, it was time to buy a fresh bottle. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428/20 "2025-11-26T21:16:13Z")
Right around the time I bought my house in 1993, my then wife bought a huge box of kosher salt. I still have a little bit left. The next one I buy will certainly be the last. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-know-my-belancan-was-off/396428.md?page=2)