My mother has excelled herself today.

[TwoSwansFromMyWindow]

Recently she moved home and gifted me two carrier bag loads of stuff from her kitchen cupboards that she didn't have space for in her new kitchen. It was mostly jars and packets, dry soup mixes, herbs and spices, various jars and bottles of condiments, the majority of which were unopened, but out of date by between 2 and 5 years. Needless to say I binned most of it.

This morning I realised I had completely run out of white pepper and DH is very partial to white pepper on his roast dinner so I asked my mum if she had any she could bring when we picked her up for lunch. She said she did and would bring it.

The jar was open and half full, with no proper lid, just the sprinkling cap with the little holes in it. She handed it to me and said 'I don't use white pepper often so it might be a bit old, but it looks fine.'

I narrowed my eyes and said 'how old? How old are we talking exactly mum?'

She looked sheepish and mumbled that she wasn't sure.

Guess. Just guess what the 'best before' date was on this jar of pepper.

1989

Im hoping its Saxa white pepper from about 1995.

Hang on, it depends how old you all are and also, who the fuck uses/ wants white pepper???

1985

Can't stand these 'guess what' threads. Just tell us or don't post

It's 33 fucking years old.

I'll be hopeful and go into the 2000s. 2003? Admittedly I have used something recently that had that expiry date, it was fine.

1989

Old enough to have left home then

We do. Always. We use black pepper too, but on different foods.

It’s the same age as me 😆 good Lord!!

sorry missed your update, 33 years old 😂

I have a jar of red pepper flakes which taste fine - I use occasionallyand have never had ill effects. A friend gave it to my Mum when she moved back to the States in 1989...

Yet I baulked at using a jar of horseradish that expired in November 2024...

Hahaha..and did you use it?

Sure it's white pepper? A lot of things will have turned to white powder in that time.

Oh my God it's the same age as me 😂 birth year spices, lush!

Long enough to have bought your own white pepper then? Or get your own yesterday?

Well it went out of date 33 years ago, not sure what the usualy time period from being made to the BB date, is but i bet it's a good few years. So it's potentially 35 years old! 🤣

NO!!!!

Old enough to have left home, graduated, done a Masters, got married and had a kid of its own, then?

You can't trust people like that with any foodstuffs or medicines - mine tried giving me child aspirin for DD2 in 2012. It was my child aspirin from 1977.

I do, in any white or cheese sauce. I rather like white pepper, it’s very peppery.

I was not expecting that!!! 😂😂

When we cleared my Gran's house in around 1997, some of her herbs and spices were priced in shillings and pence.

My parents are like this. There’s tinned food in their house that’s older than me (I’m nearly 40). Even refrigerated things will be at least weeks out of date. They just scrape off the mould. They have two chest freezers full of years-old meat and ready meals. They’re so unused to nice, fresh, normal food they can’t actually taste how revolting everything is.

Yes, good point. I've been married 32 years but that pepper could have been knocking around in her kitchen since before I met my husband. She's moved house with it twice.