You are cooking your food and from your pantry stuff you take out tyour jar that contains ground spice packets. However, you find out that they had an expiry date two years before.
So, will you throw it away, or will you consume it?
It is a very important matter that the spice manufacturers will never let you know about it - once the spices have been ground, they won’t spoil at all.
On the contrary, their deterioration is quiet and slow. Instead, all they lose is their volatile oil. After that, you will no longer be cooking with spices, but with colored sawdust.
If you need to know whether there is any life left in your ground spices, forget about the expiry date mentioned on the packaging. Instead, follow this quick "sniff and squeeze" test, which only takes 3 seconds to carry out.
How to Perform the Test
A quick second is all you need, and you don’t require anything else but your own hands.
1. Squeeze & Rub:1 second
Take out a small amount of the ground spice holding in your index finger. Now squeeze it with your thumb and the index finger. This process helps to break the ground spices further and release the oils present in them.
3. The Sniff: 1 second
Place your fingers directly under your nose and take a big sniff
Interpreting the Results
After doing a sniff, your spices will immediately tell you their status:
-
Pass: When you have a rapid, intense, and powerful blast of aroma coming through—whether it’s earthy and warm like cumin, sweet and woody like cinnamon, or sharp and citrusy like coriander—your spices are completely alive and ready to use.
• Failure: If you need to take a deep breath before you can detect a hint of its intended flavor, or if your spices smell stale and dry, there’s no doubt that those aromatic oils have disappeared.
Steps You Should Take When Your Spices Fail the Test
So, if your grounded spices have failed the above test, it is time to simply throw them away. Remember that you should never use expired spices, since the entire flavor and the texture of your curries will change. Plus putting sucjh expired spices and toasting or frying them results in a kind of chalky and dull mixture without producing the intended aroma and flavor.
Shanaya India Spices- Home for the authentic roots of stone-ground spices
Shanaya Spices is an Indian spices online shop that provides delivery of authentic Indian spices. We import traditionally stone grounded spices to provide you with the best masala flavors in your dishes.
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