Spices...how Long Do You Keep Them?

All my spices and herbs are kept in air tight / LIGHT tight containers. I've bought new on accident, and they've been the same quality as the ones I've had properly stored for years.

I buy my spices in bulk from an idian market, and then store them in various sized tins. Big ones for the general storage, and then little ones for daily use that I refill. (($2 for 5lb of pepper corns... vs $9.99 per OUNCE, $3 for a gallon sized bag of bay leaves -hundreds of leaves-, v $5 for a little jar with 10 leaves... is why I buy at Indian marts. Granted. I don't think I'll ever USE the 5lbs of tumeric I bought for $2... but better than spending $5 twice a year!)) After a mishandled move (WHERE ARE MY KITCHEN BOXES!?!?!) I had to completely reoutfit my spice cupboard. I have over 130 spices and herbs. At $5 a bottle at the grocery store... that's a SIGNIFICANT loss. But at the Indian mart $80 saw me fully outfitted. Then I just went online to a food storage site and bought 300 tins of various sizes. Most for $0.33 each, some for $1.00 and some for $0.19 each. All told Ispent abput $100. I go to home and container stores and SNICKER at the $20-$45 "spice racks" with 14 jars. I'd be BROKE if I paid those prices!

As long as they are both air and light sealed; they're great.

Those glass containers LOOK pretty, and all, but they're really not what spices and herbs should be stored in.

• Ground spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric): 2 to 3 years
• Herbs (basil, oregano, parsley): 1 to 3 years
• Seasoning blends: 1 to 2 years
• Whole spices (cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon sticks): 4 years
• Seeds: 4 years (except for poppy and sesame seeds, which should be discarded after 2 years)
• Extracts: 4 years (except for vanilla, which will last forever)

Most things you read say toss after a year.However,I'd venture to say that unless you have a very humid house where the spices could get moldy, keeping them longer is less of a "going bad" issue than it is a loss of flavor and potency in the spices.

Hmmm, well, I finally threw out my giant container of onion powder that had an expiration date 1 year before the birth of my oldest (who is almost 5).

I have stopped buying the gigantic containers and I have noticed that the spices DO taste much more vibrant when I am using them in a timely manner. The rosemary that was in my huge container is not nearly as fragrant and flavorful as the rosemary in the small vial I bought 2 months ago.

When my mama died suddenly in 02 we decided to do a over haul and clean out everything! That meant the pantry too. Im kid you not I found spices in there that expired before I was born in 79! The gold ole ones in the metal cans and they still smelled like they were supposed to!! Were they good, probably not but I just couldn't believe they were still in there! At least a year I would think???

My mom still has some of the spices in the spice rack that she got when she got married. That was 30 years ago this March! You can't hardly taste them anymore, but they are still fine to eat.

Ha! Too long, according to everything I've ever read. I probably have some that are over 10 years old.

I don't think they ever really go bad - they just lose their potency over time. Still, they're so expensive that I can't bear to throw them out.

My Mother must have some that are 20+ years old. Then again, she still has some wine coolers in her garage that HAVE to be from the mid-80s. We're keeping them as souvenirs! ;)

I read recently that as long as they smell like they normally do, they are okay. I don't think you would get sick, the spices just might not be as strong in the recipe.

We did the same thing with my mom's (see Spidermonkey's reply) when she moved into nursing home -- there were so many! In old-fashioned tins (70s?)... it also appeared she had tried to corner the market on basil! lol. I did keep some, since they smelled like they should. And then I kept the bottles, washed them & am using them for my bead collection. :D

I have found expiration dates on some of my spices but not all. I use mine a lot so I usually don't keep them more than a few months but I am also an avid Alton Brown fan and he says you should keep them no longer than 6 months.

I've had my spices for years. They do lose their potency and so after they're a year or so old I just use more than the recipe calls for. I add the herb or spice to taste.

I find that my spices for pumpkin pies are the ones that stick around the longest. I've been married for 4 years, so I've probably had the spices for about that long. I still use them. I think it has more to do with the intensity of the flavor that they add. Over time, the flavor decreases. I don't think they technically "go bad."

Great question, never even thought about it before. The one's that really matter I buy frequently because I use them so often, but some of them have been in there for at least... do I want to admit it? 10 years! (Great Cheryl, now I want to go through the old ones and toss them, LOL!)

They don't go bad they just lose their flavor. Spices we don't use often we keep in the freezer otherwise we use them long before they lose their flavor. :)

typically they last about a year.