old spices

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my mother has about 50 jars of dried spices in the cupboard, of which i'd estimate 15 were purchased with the past 10 months. a few jars i recognize as ones i purchased in college, never finished, and for some reason brought home (this would be 7 yrs ago). there's a tin of durkee cream of tartar that's been there since i was old enough to look into cupboards. when i periodically mention throwing things out, she acts like i'm nuts. along the same lines, my flatmate has a large jar of ground cumin dating from her childhood. are any of you spice hoarders? are you related to any?

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

Heh! RJM brought a huge-ass shaker of garlic salt when we moved in together 5+ years ago. It remains untouched by me, unreachable at the back of the spice shelf (nasty stuff!). Otherwise, I tend to use up spices pretty regularly.

Can cream of tartar go bad? It's sort of like baking soda, I think - okay for eternity unless it gets wet.

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

i asked about the c of t a while ago. apparently it was for an angel food cake. i doubt it's actually spoiled, but i'm not going to put that theory to the test!

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 18:46 (twenty years ago)

I think you can mix it with something to make your own baking powder. Time to get out the food science book! I've used it to make fondant, and .... uh .... something else?

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, four parts cream of tartar + two parts baking soda + one part salt = single-acting baking powder (storebought baking powder is typically double-acting, meaning it makes things rise twice: first when it encounters water, and again when it encounters heat.) Probably not worth making your own, barring crises.

C. of T. is great for stabilizing whipped egg whites. Make a paste with water to scrub tarnished copper.

If you need cream of tartar and don't have any, open a bottle of vintage unfiltered champagne -- there will be crystalline cream of tartar sediment on the cork!

Old turmeric makes a good dye.

― Paul Eater (eater), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:17 (twenty years ago)

That was it! Meringues for pavlova!

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

speaking of food science, at what point does alcohol burn off? because i'm currently making some parmesan-lentil soup, and the lentils absorbed so much liquid that i've had to make up the loss with a few healthy pours of red wine (i don't have any stock left). extra wine was added very late in the cooking stage.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

and when i say "healthy pours," i mean that i've added the best part of half a bottle at this point.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

Alcohol starts to cook off at about 165 degrees, I think, but it doesn't happen all at once -- if you really want to get rid of it you have to hold it at that temperature for quite a while. If you keep it below 200 you won't lose water, just alcohol. Might not be worth the effort, though: a little boozy soup never hurt anyone.

― Paul Eater (eater), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 20:00 (twenty years ago)

i think i'm going to call it "drunken lentil soup." at any rate, it's a good way to get rid of the $4.99 merlot some cheapskate brought over last xmas.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

Speaking of which, I have this half-empty bottle of vermouth that is a few years old. Is that dangerous to drink?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 21:48 (twenty years ago)

Not dangerous but not tasty. Vermouth keeps only a little better than wine does.

I don't know why I am all facty today!

― Paul Eater (eater), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 21:50 (twenty years ago)

So it should be kept in the fridge?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

i'm glad i never tried to do anything with the vermouth that's been sitting on my parents' liquor cart for the past 15 years or so.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

My Mum's a total hoarder. She has a tin of Colman's mustard powder in her cupboard that has gone rusty! She'll talk about it with pride and then show you the potato that got lost at the back of the oven and turned into pure charcoal (it's in a glass display cabinet with some shells and a dried seahorse).

I have about 20 jars of herbs and spices and the only one I ever seem to refill is the Oregano. I don't think I've had any of them longer than a couple of years though.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 11:34 (twenty years ago)

Oh god, and then there was the bottle of Egg Flip which dated to 1971 or something, which was removed from the bottle box LAST CHRISTMAS.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 11:36 (twenty years ago)

we've got an old tin of colman's and an even older one of durkee mustard powder. in both cases if you shake the tins, there's no sound - whatever is in there has solidified.

in the end, the soup turned out okay. i had to add quite a bit of hot water to it to tone down the flavor, though, as when nigel slater said to use a large lump of parmesan rind he apparently meant a small-to-medium one. in its unadulterated form, with the parm flavor and the large amounts of wine, it was a bit much.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

I thought I was a lone soldier in collecting/hoarding spice containers!

From the late 70's/early 80's, I have flip/top Knox "Unflavored Gelatine" box with 3 packets & recipe slip intact.

I also have a Hershey's box of unsweetened baking chocolate (1 bar left). This one is old, but it does have bar code.

Grandma gave me several containers of spices (beyond thought of human consumption!). What do we do with these!?!

Denise

― dEMcKenna, Thursday, 23 February 2006 11:46 (nineteen years ago)

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