Bad Manners and Brimstone

Crisco will go off - it changes colour a little and develops an unpleasant flavour.  At that point, I either throw it out or use it in something where the flavour won't be noticeable.

Flour bags do have a best before date on them.  I don't stick to that strictly - I haven't had an issue with flour 6 months out of date, especially if it was unopened.  But I can see it going stale if it is really old and/or open for a long time.

Granulated sugar shouldn't go bad unless it gets contaminated.  Other sugars may become difficult to use due to clumping, like brown and icing (confectioners) sugar.

The test for eggs is to put them in a bowl of water.  If they float, toss them.  Or cook them up to feed to the animals, if you have dogs.  If they stand upright but not out and out floating, they're on the older side.  They should be fine for baking but if you are making your special omelette or quiche, I'd get new eggs.  If they lay mostly horizontal, not floating, they're the freshest and will be fine for anything you want to do with them.

Baking soda and baking powder definitely lose their effectiveness the older they get.  Once baking soda reaches the best before date on the box, use it for odour control in the fridge or cleaning but get a new box for baking.  Baking powder is similar; I will use it past the best before date but I usually add a smidge more for a little extra oomph since it will have lost some.  I believe the jar I have has a date line where you can write in when you opened it and the advice is to toss it once it's been open for 6 months.

Yeast is another one.  I buy my yeast in bulk quantities.  I only use it a couple of times a year but it still works out cheaper to toss some of it than it does to buy the smaller containers or packets.  I store it in the fridge and will toss it every other year.  Yeast can be checked, though.  Just proof it before you add it to a recipe.  If it doesn't proof?  Try a second go round.  If that one doesn't proof?  Go buy new yeast.  I take a coffee mug, warm the mug up with hot water, dump out the water, add in a tablespoon of granulated sugar and 1/3 cup of hot water, stir and sprinkle in a tablespoon of yeast.  I'll stir the yeast in then put in a 100 F oven to rise.  If your oven doesn't go that low, use a thermometer, heat it to about 120 F then turn it off but turn the oven light on.  It will stay warm enough to let the yeast proof.

Oil can go bad. You can smell it and it smells stale. So I'm sure that shortening could also go bad.

I had some taco shells go bad recently. I opened up the package and immediately smelled that stale oil smell. So I guess it was the oil in them that was past its prime. I guess I'd had them in my pantry for a while! 

It's funny the things that can go bad.

I just tossed some whole wheat flour that went off. It has more oil in it, so doesn't keep as well. In flour, you can smell it. At first it smells stale, then later rancid. Of course, if you see movement, toss it. Side story...I found huge ants in my container of coarse sugar. They got in somehow and couldn't get out. Boy, were they moving fast. Zipping round and round the container.

Shortening, if it's questionable (not yet rancid smelling), I taste a bit. It should taste pretty much like nothing.

Awesome!  Glad it worked for you.

I use my kitchenaid rather than a bread machine so I can dump the proofed yeast right into my two-loaf batch.

I don't own a bread machine because I would make - and eat - a loaf of bread every day!

The cookies are still good, just not as good as childhood would remember. Maybe the shortening was just going.

I've also noticed that baking chocolate has changed over the years. Ghiradelli's is fine, but I usually use Baker's, and their sourcing has changed. It's very bland, I have to add a lot more salt when I make brownies with it. Maybe Nestle's has changed their chocolate chips as well? Anyone notice?

I just tossed some whole wheat flour that went off. It has more oil in it, so doesn't keep as well. In flour, you can smell it. At first it smells stale, then later rancid. Of course, if you see movement, toss it. Side story...I found huge ants in my container of coarse sugar. They got in somehow and couldn't get out. Boy, were they moving fast. Zipping round and round the container.

Ants: We'vebeeneatingsugarlotsofsugarwelikeitbutweneedsomevarietywhoawefeelverystimulatedifyouknowwhatwemean.

I stopped buying Baker's chocolate when I gained access to Trader Joe's. I buy their Pound Plus dark bars and just use that for all my baking. That stuff is good! Good for plain old eating and good for baking. Only down side is that it's not arranged in one ounce chunks like Baker's is. So I just estimate. Mostly I over estimate, you know, for good measure. 

My recipe calls for strictly 100% unsweetened chocolate. Otherwise, wouldn't the ratio of sugar be off? Do you use Pound Plus when the recipe needs unsweetened chocolate?