Over a year old flavor concentrate still good

submitted about 8 years ago by OhmNaz

I got out of diy a while ago due to not having the time. But I am getting back to it and I have a few flavor concentrates that I haven't used in over a year. In your opinion are they still good to use? Or do you think the flavor will be to degraded? Maybe just a higher%? They were stored in a dark cabinet that sits in a room usually around 72 - 76 degrees. Some seem to have a barely noticeable Hue to them now that I do not remember them having.

Comments

8 points

by ihatetoridethebusabout 8 years ago

I had a break too. Especially creams and custards seem to have improved and require less steeping. Some fruits taste a bit off. Most didnt change at all, not to my perception.
Thats it. TFA Bavarian Cream is incredible if old.

1 points

by br4d24about 8 years ago

hmm i might have to go through my old flavors and give them a shot then. i thought they were all lost causes. Do you or anyone else know of any good visual (or other) cues to tell if a flavor is degraded to the point of no return?

1 points

by ihatetoridethebusabout 8 years ago

No, my Cap VBIC turned pretty dark and it is still good. TFA VBIC on the other hand didnt change hue at all but now smells of pepper, but flavour is still fine to me.

So, i'd smell them and decide go from there.

1 points

by br4d24about 8 years ago

nice! Yeah i went through all of my flavorings and marked the old ones so i know to double check them before mixing. Most of them seemed to be okay. Luckily i had left them in the fridge for most of their lives so i think that might have helped a bit.

5 points

by Killerwalskiabout 8 years ago

They're fine. You might notice a small loss in flavor that can be made up by increasing your quantities by .5%-1%

I bought a shitload of different shit 2+ years ago that I still mix with occasionally and it's always come out great.

4 points

by surfishermanabout 8 years ago

I have had one or two flavors that have gone bad after sitting for over a year . 90% of my flavors are well over a year old and i detect ZERO degradation but i also keep them in glass bottles refrigerated .

3 points

by OhmNazabout 8 years ago

On the bright side the flavors that had an alcohol smell seemed to have toned down, especially the Vienna cream.

1 points

by Bone-Juiceabout 8 years agoMixologist

I have some old flavours like this. Pretty sure they won't hurt you in any way, but in my case, the flavour seems to have faded somewhat.

2 points

by ertttabout 8 years ago

A lot of flavors in my experience are fine with sitting for awhile. Some may lose the crispness though. I will say though that I always like to have "fresh" FA fresh cream

2 points

by BuryMeInSmokeabout 8 years ago

It depends a lot on the flavour.

I've got some concentrates that are over two years old. Some are fine. Some are terrible.

TFA peanut butter, TFA vanilla swirl, TFA marshmallow are a few off the top of my head that haven't stood the test of time.

I've got some FA Fuji that's about 12 months old that has seemed to died off quite a lot.

I'd use them at the same percentage initially and see how they fare.

2 points

by Dadbert_Fathersteinabout 8 years ago

I have a heap that I bought when I first started 2-3 years back, I've recently started using some and they're still pretty strong.

-8 points

by EdibleMalfunctionabout 8 years agoThat Sugar Cookie Guy

If it's been over a year those flavors would definitely have degraded. Using them at a higher percentage probably won't make a difference

5 points

by noahdblevinsabout 8 years ago

They may degrade, but it would be slowly if stored properly. After a set amount of degrading, simply adding more should correct or at least offset the problem....until it degrades to 0.

Just because food has a sell by date doesnt mean it is spoiled moments after that time arrives.

1 points

by Maddoktor2about 8 years ago

Exactly. That's also why some foods have "use by" dates as well. There's a major difference between them that we don't need to go into here, but suffice it to say that most people consider "sell by" to mean the same as "use by."

Take canned foods, for example; properly stored canned fruits opened a year after the "sell by" date might tend to have a slight metallic taste imparted from being in the tin can for so long, but there's nothing at all wrong with the contents which are still healthy and nutritious, and perfectly safe to consume.