What's the oldest spice in your cupboards? Just thrown out one that's 10 years out of date.

[PunishmentRoundupWithJoon]

Decluttering and finally addressing the kitchen cupboards. Oldest jar of spices expired in July 2014. Have several from 2018/2019 and many whose dates have rubbed off. I put the 2019 ones back thinking, "they're not that old..." - then realised it's actually 5 years ago.

Obviously, I don't use spices very much in cooking.

Celery salt 2012. Glad its no just me!

My late MIL gave me a Fortnum & Mason jar of nutmegs in 1995 and I'm still grating them, nearly all gone now

Tumeric 1998. Must be a vintage year. Use it when I make chutney each year - down to the last dregs! Haven't killed anyone yet...

My parents met whilst living abroad in 1980 (i came along in 1983)
..I'm pretty sure circa 2000 (possibly even later) my mum still had a fair few spices they'd brought back with them when they moved back to the UK :)

Oops for clarification they moved back to UK in 1985 so spices were at least 15 years old.. probably older

My celery salt is 41... I bought it the year I married exH and I use a pinch of it about twice a year for making lamb stew. Still about a quarter of a jar left.

And I have a packet of saffron strands I bought in Majorca in the mid 80's.

The other thing I still have (and can't bear to throw away) is some sugar flowers for cake decorating that date from about 1970 and were my DM's.

I found spices in my Grandads cupboard without a sell by date, that was how old they were! 🫣

I have a nutmeg someone gave me in 2003, it's about half grated away. Still tastes great on rice pudding.

My parents bought a sack of peppercorns in Sarawak in 1965- my mother is still using them in her pepper mill 59 years later. They don't really go off, but I think they've lost most of their flavour. My mother wouldn't dream of throwing them away and buying pepper that tastes of, well, pepper. I think probably they'll see her out.

Last week I through out star anise that was 13 years old

Oh, this reminds me of Michael McIntyre's wonderful 'spice cupboard' skit. You can google it.

I have a jar of red pepper (chilli) flakes a friend gave my Mum when her family moved back to the States in 1989. She visited me a few years ago and I used some in the meal I cooked. I didn’t tell her though…

Slightly more recent, but I still have some left in the last of the four jars of herbs I took to university in 1997. When I bought a new packet of dried basil I put far too much in as I wasn’t used to the herbs having much of a flavour.

My Dad used to have two ancient tins in his cupboard. One was blackcurrants and eventually the juice ate through the tin so it hissed gently. The other was pease pudding and still had the 5 1/2p price sticker. I was quite sad to throw them away.

My Mum also hates to throw things away. When my daughter was born she found some sterilising tablets and a bag of cotton wool from my baby days, and when looking for a sachet of instant coffee I found one made in West Germany.

Five Spice!

Just helped a relative sort out her kitchen. Her cinnamon expired in 1986 😳

Bloody hell! My ten years expired spices were nothing then! Good grief. Gonna have a rummage in the bin and pull them all out again...they'll be good for another five years minimum...😁

I was just thinking of this, but couldn’t remember who did it!!
It was funny - and very true, if we’re all anything to go by!!😁

I threw some out that pre dated DH recently and we have been together 17 years! I have some icing decorations still that are about 15 years old.

I bought a gallon of dark soy sauce in 1993, still using it

I needed something to take to school for harvest festival, my mum gave me a packet of soup from the cupboard. The year was 1990 and the soup had a sign on it stating it had cost 1 shilling. We went decimal in 1971.

I have Jamaican Jerk spice mix bb 2009 and Ground Cloves bb 2008

My jars are very old but I cook a lot and regularly refill so i don't think the actual contents are too bad.

I do have mustard powder that went out in 2011 . . . still unopened. No idea what it was bought for!

When my Gran died in 1999 we emptied her pantry which had spices in with price labels in pre-decimal currency. And a tin of powdered egg from WW2.

Never even thought to check! Spices don't go off, they'd probably just lose flavour. but i think use by dates are a scam anyway

Ground spices will be flavourless dust if kept too long but whole spices last much longer. I’m not at home at the moment so I can’t check how many years out of date my cardamom pods are, but they’re fine. And there’s the joke about nutmeg: “Win a lifetime supply of nutmeg by simply buying a jar of nutmeg.”

Oh and slightly off topic but I have a bottle of sherry vinegar which I had when we moved into our previous flat in 2007. Still tastes fine, I just tend to use the bog standard white wine vinegar instead!