Modernist Ingredients' Shelf Lives

[rx6006]

Hi All,

I'm new to the site and new to incorporating modernist techniques and ingredients into my culinary repertoire, but I like to think that I've cooked food in every other conceivable way short of a fusion reactor. When purchasing chemicals such as carrageenan, calcium chloride, sodium acetate, etc., what sort of shelf life should I expect? I'm reticent to purchase large amounts if they aren't well suited for storage, but I also don't want to purchase very small quantities if it isn't necessary for quality control. I know there are so many other "molecular" additives I've omitted from my example, but a rough generalization would be very helpful. Thanks very much.

[ChrisTaylor]

Couple of years, I think. I say this because in mid-2012ish I purchased a box full of modernist additives and most of them expire mid-2014ish. Could be what I bought was sitting on a shelf for a while and was actually packaged before 2012, though.

[haresfur]

I'm sure they put expiration date on the ingredients but I bet most of the dry powders will last forever. That being said, it may depend on the specific chemical. For example calcium chloride won't degrade but it can absorb water so your weights might go off. Keep them sealed, cool and in the dark is good practice. I plan on using mine until they are used up or I start getting failures.

[Tri2Cook]

Since I don't have need of the types of ingredients being discussed where I work and I'm just using them for fun at home, I don't worry about the dates on the packages for the various powders. I have a couple that are probably 4 or 5 years old that still work fine and don't cause any physical problems for me from consuming the items made with them. I'll probably keep using them until they're gone. The only thing I've seen time cause problems with is transglutaminase. Storage can definitely be part of the equation though. Moisture isn't a friend to most of them, it definitely isn't friendly to maltodextrins. They can turn from powder to a lump of rock.

[ChrisTaylor]

Yeah, given what I paid--what everyone pays--for these ingredients I won't bin them when xx/xx/2014 rolls around.

[ChrisZ]

I think I've written this before, but use-by/sell-by/best-before dates are governed by laws that may vary from country to country. In our case (Australia) the maximum use-by date is two years from manufacture. Something that may last indefinitely (e.g. salt, or bottled water) will therefore have a use-by date of 2 years, which is obvious absurd in these cases.

This makes it hard to judge other ingredients though, unless you're into chemistry. Salt won't go off, ever. I don't think sugar will either. Food acids won't but they may absorb water - same sort of thing with bicarb soda. More complex compounds like gellan and carrageenan - I don't know. My bet is that they will also last for many years, but will be labelled with a 2-year useby date because of the regulations.

[rx6006]

Makes sense. I've always relied on taste and smell to determine expiration for most things, since the dates are arbitrary and usually put there to encourage planned obsolescence. Good point on the potential issue with moisture; I'll be sure to use containers with gaskets for the powders. I'm not sure about whether or not organic materials like gelatin and carrageenan can exist in perpetuity, but using them until I see failures seems like the way to go.

[jjahorn]

(Possibly) assuming aside - one of my bags lost it's label recently, and I was fairly sure it was just vanilla sugar, so I put a little on the tip of my finger and popped it in my mouth.

I was a little surprised how much reaction a few grains of citric acid can provoke!

Edited July 15, 2013 by jjahorn (log)

[rx6006]

(Possibly) assuming aside - one of my bags lost it's label recently, and I was fairly sure it was just vanilla sugar, so I put a little on the tip of my finger and popped it in my mouth.

I was a little surprised how much reaction a few grains of citric acid can provoke!

So very true. In my mother's kitchen two Thanksgivings ago, she absentmindedly poured powdered sugar into my turkey stock thinking it was corn starch. The resulting "gravy" syrup was poured out into the front yard and killed whatever grass it landed upon.

[FeChef]

I would like to know how long activa RM last if immediately opened and vacuum packed and deep frozen. I still have like 50g of it in my freezer from like 3-4 months ago. I hate to waste it, yet i would hate to ruin a bunch of meat if the meat glue doesnt set.

[Tri2Cook]

I did some experimenting with that a while back (2008 according to my notes) and bounced some emails with Chad Galiano from the Chadzilla blog who was also experimenting with activa at that time and we both came to pretty much the same results. With immediate vacuum packing and freezer storage, 2 months seemed to be the average. I've used it past that and had it work. I've also had it not work sooner than that, possibly the result of less careful handling. When you open it, rub a decent amount of it onto a piece of the raw meat and take a sniff. If there's a bit of a funk kinda reminiscent of a wet pet, it will probably still work.