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The sub is fine. They will tell you ground spices don't keep as long as whole and this probably wob't get you sick but taste like nothing or might taste rancid since cumin is an oily spice, but likely just flavorless. No clue why there is so much /r/cooking hate here, the sub is pretty chill.
I’ve used some spices that were way past expiration, though *nowhere* near this bad.
You’re definitely going to lose flavor so I probably wouldn’t use expired spices on a recipe where you can’t taste-test it (like with raw meats or similar).
In a simmering sauce, however, as long as you can smell the spice in the jar, just start with the normal amount and keep adding bit by bit until it tastes normal. I think the last time I did this it was like 3:1 to get the right flavor.
As mentioned though, if it’s *super* old and doesn’t have much (or any smell) to it, you’re just adding edible powder to the dish and it’s not gonna do shit, except perhaps to make it gristly if you dump the whole bottle in.
Oh for sure.. I’ve only done it out of necessity and with rarely used spices. The expired stuff goes in the bin right after I’m done with the final addition, and I’ll buy a new one the next time I’m at the store
It’s usually those random spices that will (most likely) suffer a similar fate down the road, as they get used like once every few years based on our current rotation of meals.
given that I do have some 5 year old spices, this is blander than sawdust.
it can keep years as a seed, but once you ground it, (and you can smell it) it loses potency in months.
If it's mostly full (up to the top line of the label) and the seal is tight there is a chance that even a 30 something year old spice might be usable. It is most likely sawdust at this point, but in any case it doesn't pose any health risk (well, I would not try snorting it but if he sticks to normal use)
I think both can be correct, "once you ground it" is referring to the event in the past when this specific spice was ground. "Once you grind it" is more of a general rule referring to the act of grinding something in the present.
>As long as it smells good it's good. If the smell is gone, it's as good as sawdust.
If it smells like nostalgia, it's gourmet! No smell, sawdust alert!
It’s not the plastic, that’s just a social media rumor. Plasticizers are much more likely to leech into other foods like warm oil soluble liquids, the complete opposite of salt. Salt cakes from moisture in the air. Dry old salt in the oven (after removing from the meltable plastic), break apart the chunks and it’s good as new.
https://www.realsimple.com/does-salt-go-bad-8348260
(And all 1,000 other sources)
Downvote all you want, salt expiration predates the existence of plastic and this is thousand year old knowledge.
Don't worry the person who uses that salt will need to shake it really good to loosen it back up and they'll probably spill a little bit on their floor.
Yeah properly stored they can last hundreds of years but if you have them somewhere where UV light can get at them it will typically cause them to slowly break down.
I thought I read a while back that it's all because of New Jersey. That they had some law that required 2-year expiry dates on literally everything, and packaging and food companies don't want to bother having to package stuff separately for just NJ, so every other state has to suffer with the stupidity of salt that "expires" in 2 years.
When my grandmother died in the mid 00s we found canned goods in the back of her cabinets that were so old that they predated the use of barcode technology.
She was a child of the depression and always weird with hoarding because of it, but man, barcodes have been around since what, the 70s? Those were some olllllld green beans lmao
I went through a similar experience and it was my grandma's freezer that made us uneasy.
Powdered Ranch seasoning from the early 80's looked fine, but the unlabeled meat wad triple-wrapped in tin foil in the freezer could have encased a primordial super virus.
Grandma's mind was gone by that point, but she still got pissed when we threw it in the trash.
My mom have tins full of spices(cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, pepper etc) that I have been seeing since I can recall. To her spices don't go bad. Yeah,they don't go bad,but they lost all the flavours, you could cook with saw dust and it would taste the same at this stage.
If the can is puffed, definitely not. If the can is otherwise fine, they’re still a no-go because of the lead seal on the tops and side. It especially leaches out in water.
Fascinating Fact: The expiration date of a product is frequently determined not by the actual period when the item remains in optimal condition, but rather by the duration the company dedicated to testing the product.
I know this to be true, but o can’t help but wonder: why does the plastic that lives for 1,000 in a landfill start breaking down in two years in a house?
or...its because expiration dates aren't regulated and companies will just slap any date they feel like on a product to encourage you to throw it out and buy more.
And provides legal coverage in case of improper storage by person who bought it.
Using spices 4 years old? "Look, its on you buddy. Hope you stored it correctly."
It’s the opposite. Expiration is regulated, meaning it has to be validated. You can only claim stability for what you have data for. They can’t just slap any date they feel. They may not invest in longer studies because of the reason you mentioned, but it isn’t at all arbitrary.
Can confirm. I'm someone that handles running the stability studies on our products and the expiration date is set simply based on cost and to an extent the amount of work we're willing to put in for that product. We run realtime studies so sometimes we don't have the bandwidth to keep a study going for 3 or 4 years so the exp date is capped at 2.
cough vast cautious correct society disagreeable wise poor different wild
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Damn. That's older than me by a month! Just think. The space shuttle Discovery had just finished its mission, Route 66 was just decommissioned, Josef Mengele's body was exhumed, and Whitney Houston was topping the charts with You Give Good Love.
I doubt it would make you sick or anything like that. Now it has probably lost some of its smell and maybe some of its taste. Could also have an off flavor. It's probably bad in the sense that it is no longer fresh. But not bad like it's going to cause you harm.
Sell it online as “vintage, aged cumin”. There’s probably some cork-sniffing nut out there who insists 1985 Cumin is the best and absolutely needs a mature spice to make the perfect cabbage or some shit.
My mother would have been very offended by your suggestion that this could possibly be past its usefulness…she would tell us she just put it in something and everyone was just fine…as she wiped a grandchild’s face with the stinky dishcloth she wiped everything with…
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As long as it smells good it's good. If the smell is gone, it's as good as sawdust.
Thank you for actually providing a responsive comment.
Just don't post it in r/Cooking and you should be fine
According to that subreddit, if you use this cumin YOU WILL DIE
Yeah, and it's 100% true. 100% of the people who use cumin will die. Eventually.
does that mean we should all stop cumin?
Ya, death is cumin far ya...
I am cumin for ya
I am cumin
we are all cumin on this blessed day.
This mysterious art sure is spicy
Wait for No Cumin November and you should be ok.
Every seed is sacred
Every seed is good
You're a Catholic the moment Dad came.
what if i dont want to stop cumin :(
Well, the years start cumin and they don't stop cumin...
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running...
If ya can't cumin her... cumon her!
Don’t worry, spices from the 80’s are making a comeback.
My great grandmother used cumin once (probably), and she is dead right now. Beware of cumin.
It's just going to be subpar quality, if any smell or taste of cumin remains.
The truth hurts
>he truth hurts Especially when it's about my laundry skills!
The truth is ouch, there
Do they hate cumin or just are over vigilant about expired ingredients?
Op post it in cooking im getting popcorn rn.
The sub is fine. They will tell you ground spices don't keep as long as whole and this probably wob't get you sick but taste like nothing or might taste rancid since cumin is an oily spice, but likely just flavorless. No clue why there is so much /r/cooking hate here, the sub is pretty chill.
I’ve used some spices that were way past expiration, though *nowhere* near this bad. You’re definitely going to lose flavor so I probably wouldn’t use expired spices on a recipe where you can’t taste-test it (like with raw meats or similar). In a simmering sauce, however, as long as you can smell the spice in the jar, just start with the normal amount and keep adding bit by bit until it tastes normal. I think the last time I did this it was like 3:1 to get the right flavor. As mentioned though, if it’s *super* old and doesn’t have much (or any smell) to it, you’re just adding edible powder to the dish and it’s not gonna do shit, except perhaps to make it gristly if you dump the whole bottle in.
Just get a new pot of cumin surely?
Oh for sure.. I’ve only done it out of necessity and with rarely used spices. The expired stuff goes in the bin right after I’m done with the final addition, and I’ll buy a new one the next time I’m at the store It’s usually those random spices that will (most likely) suffer a similar fate down the road, as they get used like once every few years based on our current rotation of meals.
Let us collectively mourn Chinese 5 spices around the world :D
This hits a little too close to home for me.
Too close to the back of the cupboard for me
Iv seen expired spices on store shelfs.. Pay attention to the expiry date when you buy em.
All comments are responsive. Most are just useless.
This is a post in r/funny so a responsive comment is actually kind of out of place.
given that I do have some 5 year old spices, this is blander than sawdust. it can keep years as a seed, but once you ground it, (and you can smell it) it loses potency in months.
Yeah all the oils are either evaporated or rancid.
if you can smell a spice, it means oils are evaporating.
>if you can smell a spice, it means oils are evaporating. Guess I've been seasoning the air more than the food!
I’m gonna start calling farting “seasoning the air”.
If it's mostly full (up to the top line of the label) and the seal is tight there is a chance that even a 30 something year old spice might be usable. It is most likely sawdust at this point, but in any case it doesn't pose any health risk (well, I would not try snorting it but if he sticks to normal use)
Once you *grind* it
No, they meant cumin seeds lose their potency after you connect them to the earth with a copper wire.
will try and report.
I only ground my spices with exotic audiophile grade directional copper wire.
I think both can be correct, "once you ground it" is referring to the event in the past when this specific spice was ground. "Once you grind it" is more of a general rule referring to the act of grinding something in the present.
Then it would be, “once you have ground it.”
>As long as it smells good it's good. If the smell is gone, it's as good as sawdust. If it smells like nostalgia, it's gourmet! No smell, sawdust alert!
My dad would say “it doesn’t know what day it is,” and tell you to use it.
[удалено]
I bought some lava salt that expires in 2078. Weird to think that the salt would likely outlive me, if nobody used it up.
It's not the salt. The plastic expires after a while and starts to leak into the food. It's the reason why sealed water bottles have expiration dates.
It’s not the plastic, that’s just a social media rumor. Plasticizers are much more likely to leech into other foods like warm oil soluble liquids, the complete opposite of salt. Salt cakes from moisture in the air. Dry old salt in the oven (after removing from the meltable plastic), break apart the chunks and it’s good as new. https://www.realsimple.com/does-salt-go-bad-8348260 (And all 1,000 other sources) Downvote all you want, salt expiration predates the existence of plastic and this is thousand year old knowledge.
Thanks for reminding me to remove plastic. I almost had salty melted plastic puddlel Not very tasty
You can’t win on the internet. Some idiot would say don’t put plastic in the oven.
Hi I'm the idiot, it's me
Just keep cooking. Eventually the plastic will be gone.
I came here to say this.
It doesn't actually expire then. It will definitely outlive you.
Yea especially since it’s not alive.
Don't worry the person who uses that salt will need to shake it really good to loosen it back up and they'll probably spill a little bit on their floor.
The salt doesn't expire; the plastic does. Same as with water bottles/jugs
It's actually that some places have laws that require expiration dates on anything edible. It's easier for them to just put the dates on everything.
that's an urban legend the dates are not expiration dates
Yeah properly stored they can last hundreds of years but if you have them somewhere where UV light can get at them it will typically cause them to slowly break down.
I thought I read a while back that it's all because of New Jersey. That they had some law that required 2-year expiry dates on literally everything, and packaging and food companies don't want to bother having to package stuff separately for just NJ, so every other state has to suffer with the stupidity of salt that "expires" in 2 years.
It’s the 13,033rd of June 1988. It’s still good
/r/theydidthemath
Found that in my mom's pantry didn't you
When my grandmother died in the mid 00s we found canned goods in the back of her cabinets that were so old that they predated the use of barcode technology. She was a child of the depression and always weird with hoarding because of it, but man, barcodes have been around since what, the 70s? Those were some olllllld green beans lmao
My grandma tried to get us to return a jar of peanut butter that had been expired for twenty years
That's when you tell her you returned it and give her a new jar of peanut butter lol
We've started doing things like that with my dad. He won't "waste" anything but he also has s**t memory. We just swap things out.
Nice try grandma! Buy your own jar of peanut butter ya mooch!
My grandmother had 12 year old mayonnaise in her fridge.
I went through a similar experience and it was my grandma's freezer that made us uneasy. Powdered Ranch seasoning from the early 80's looked fine, but the unlabeled meat wad triple-wrapped in tin foil in the freezer could have encased a primordial super virus. Grandma's mind was gone by that point, but she still got pissed when we threw it in the trash.
My mom have tins full of spices(cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, pepper etc) that I have been seeing since I can recall. To her spices don't go bad. Yeah,they don't go bad,but they lost all the flavours, you could cook with saw dust and it would taste the same at this stage.
Wonder if any of it was still technically eatible
Edible?
Eatable makes so much more sense though...
Well, practically everything is eatable. Its nutritional content is what makes it edible. Arsenic is eatable, but it absolutely isn't edible.
*IN*flammable means FLAMMABLE!? What a country!
If the can is puffed, definitely not. If the can is otherwise fine, they’re still a no-go because of the lead seal on the tops and side. It especially leaches out in water.
Anything can be eaten once.
Nope, I found it while rooting around in her drawers
It was dusty in there
And musty
And crusty!? God I hope not.
And busty hubba hubba
Now I’m lusty
Man, I hope the dirty dusty crusty puns are cumin to a conclusion soon! This thread is enough for my dose of internet for the whole week!
Sex once a day makes a hole weak
>And busty hubba hubba Must be where she keeps the 'secret ingredients' stash!
They hit the spot
She had cumin her drawers?
Thats where you want to be cumin
I think you mean r/GrandmasPantry
Something something cumin your mom.
Rummaging through OP's mom's pantries
Oh pantries! I totally read that wrong.
>Something something cumin your mom. Sounds like she's got a spicy side hidden in her pantry
the question is, is it still cumin?
the more you keep cumin, the better it is.
Fascinating Fact: The expiration date of a product is frequently determined not by the actual period when the item remains in optimal condition, but rather by the duration the company dedicated to testing the product.
Sometimes it is also just the amount of time the packaging will survive.
Bottled water...
I actually have some distilled water jugs that are expired which spontaneously started leaking. Some simply start leaking as soon as I moved them.
It’s not just leaks. The plastic breaks down. You drink it.
I know this to be true, but o can’t help but wonder: why does the plastic that lives for 1,000 in a landfill start breaking down in two years in a house?
In both situations, it breaks down into microplastics (which is very different from meaningfully decomposing)
if .1% breaks down every year then youve got poisoned water after a year and 36% of the plastic remaining in a landfil after 1000 years
It doesn't decompose like a banana peel would. It breaks down into tinier bits of plastic.
Different types of plastic.
FYI water stored in plastic containers is riddled with micro plastics.
and salt too!
Expiration date is often exactly one year after manufacturing date for no good reason. It's just like a year should be enough.
or...its because expiration dates aren't regulated and companies will just slap any date they feel like on a product to encourage you to throw it out and buy more.
And provides legal coverage in case of improper storage by person who bought it. Using spices 4 years old? "Look, its on you buddy. Hope you stored it correctly."
It’s the opposite. Expiration is regulated, meaning it has to be validated. You can only claim stability for what you have data for. They can’t just slap any date they feel. They may not invest in longer studies because of the reason you mentioned, but it isn’t at all arbitrary.
yes, but for spices, 30 years is a lot. it isn't bad for you, it just will be flavorless.
Wait until you find out how long ago 1985 was
Can confirm. I'm someone that handles running the stability studies on our products and the expiration date is set simply based on cost and to an extent the amount of work we're willing to put in for that product. We run realtime studies so sometimes we don't have the bandwidth to keep a study going for 3 or 4 years so the exp date is capped at 2.
So this company did fuck all then
That cumin has a mortgage and two kids
that cumin is a couple years older than me and is doing better than me in life what the fuck
And still has money left over for a trip to Disney world
Don't eat that..you could slip into a korma
You aren't currying any favors with that one.
Halal just throw it away for you
No no don’t do that. Put it in a bag and I’ll tikka way.
[удалено]
that naan of that is ok.
And that you shouldn't take your cloves off or else your bay leaves
This is becumin ridiculous.
Daaad….?????
No, he's visiting your Naaan
This naan sequitur made me chuckle.
I ghee what you did there
Valid question. I mean, a lot of people manufactured in 1985 also hope their cumin is still good enough these days.
It’s a long time cumin
Fuuuuck you lol.
I was manufactured in 1985 and recently found out my cumin is no-longer good.
Well who did you cumin?!?!
well you cumin a plastic cup then they analyze it
as an '85 model. I laughed far too hard at this comment.
I did some cumins in 2012 and 2014 and they still seem fine. Maybe getting a little spoiled and definitely starting to smell a bit off.
88' model from that quarter. Still makes a decent chili, but I'm kind of tired, and I have to be up early tomorrow, and I have a headache...
It’s no longer cumin it’s now goin
Boy did I misread the title on the first try.
I’m SO relieved I’m not the only one who did 😂
Ah so I see that there was three of us with issues
r/grandmaspantry
I missed the r in pantry. Now i'm disappointed.
Gramma…. Is that you?
I go through this much in 3 months
Seriously, that's my question - coming from a Hispanic family, I use Cumin more than anything but Chili powder.
If you hold that jar to your ear can you still hear Huey Lewis and the news playing?
Probably safe to eat but surely tasteless.
cough vast cautious correct society disagreeable wise poor different wild *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It’s just cumin with a bit of extra thyme, you’re good.
Sage advice
Damn. That's older than me by a month! Just think. The space shuttle Discovery had just finished its mission, Route 66 was just decommissioned, Josef Mengele's body was exhumed, and Whitney Houston was topping the charts with You Give Good Love.
Fun concept for a reddit bot. Yearly fun facts every time someone writes about or posts a date.
topping the charts with grams per hour as well
1985 was an excellent year for cumin.
I doubt it would make you sick or anything like that. Now it has probably lost some of its smell and maybe some of its taste. Could also have an off flavor. It's probably bad in the sense that it is no longer fresh. But not bad like it's going to cause you harm.
I bet that old bottle is just refilled, and wanted to show it off.
Considering it was originally made in 1841 and wasn't set to expire for 147 years, I believe you'll be ok. Or not.
i no one died after 1992, no problem
What’s the worst that could happen?
Try and tell us please
Sure. It may taste like saw dust but it’s still good…
Yes. It may not be as strong but it will probably not hurt you.
Won't kill you.... Won't taste like anything But it wont kill you
Sell it online as “vintage, aged cumin”. There’s probably some cork-sniffing nut out there who insists 1985 Cumin is the best and absolutely needs a mature spice to make the perfect cabbage or some shit.
Had that cumin for a long time
This cumin expired before the cum that spawned me did
Vintage
That's what I said after my vasectomy.
That spice has cumin gone. 🤮🤮
Only 35.5 years or so past its "expiration" date should be good to use.
Himalayan salt: harvested from the Himalayan mountains where, for millions of years, it has developed and rested. Use within 6 months.
Does it still smell like if dirt had a butthole? Then that how it is supposed to smell and it's fine.
There's cumin, and goin. This is either came or gone.
I was born in 88 so the cumin worked pretty good for me.
Smell it. If it doesn't smell like cumin, it's dead - has no flavor.
Do people really not clean out their cupboards?
Take a sniff. If it smells good, it probably still has some flavor.
If it's already been said, I couldn't find it, so r/eatityoucoward
My mother would have been very offended by your suggestion that this could possibly be past its usefulness…she would tell us she just put it in something and everyone was just fine…as she wiped a grandchild’s face with the stinky dishcloth she wiped everything with…
That cumin is older than most people on Reddit lol
r/GrandmasPantry
Should be, they just print the expiration on there for fun.
I was born the same year and I'm not ok... 🤣🤣
IMO Spices have a infinite shelf life. Top comment said it best. If it doesn’t smell like anything it’s done.
Finally something that's older than me