# What is the shelf life of vinegar?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-shelf-life-of-vinegar/430555>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 19, 2007, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-shelf-life-of-vinegar/430555 "2007-12-19T05:03:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-shelf-life-of-vinegar/430555/21 "2007-12-19T21:58:55Z")

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[QUOTE=Christopher]  
If you leave NaOH solutions out long enough, they will become solutions of Na[sub]2[/sub]CO[sub]3[/sub] or even NaHCO[sub]3[/sub]. This might just be livable, and maybe even act as a source of carbon for some plant life (That’s just guessing). Definitely that was not a NaOH solution by the time they found it. I’m guessing your friend was not an analytical chemist.  
[/QUOTE]

more likely, she knows _I_ am not an analytical chemist, and simplified it for me. Or maybe I’m just mistelling the story.

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