"Use-By dates"

[marmalady]

Here's a useful site I found as I was reading another thread that was talking about buttermilk and expiration dates - good info!

http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa102102b.htm

 

[norgeskog]

thanks marmalady, very useful as there are so many terms. I look at them as being disclaimers, and find that most products can be used well past the date using your nose and vision as a good judge. Especially with buttermilk, I have used it a week after the date on the carton. And with blue cheese, the date would seem meaningless.

 

[marmalady]

YW, Nors! Yeah, re the buttermilk thing, I've used it up to 3 weeks after the date, and it's been fine.


Re blue cheese, and other 'molded' cheeses, it can get overripe, and I've seen it where one mold outgrew the original mold and it was totally yucky! This unfortunately was in a restaurant kitchen, where a wheel of blue had gotten shoved accidentally in the back of the cooler, and no one found it for a month!

 

[Alix]

Oh totally gross! I am grateful for this link too marmalady. I like to use things up and often the date comes before I do. I can now breathe easy. (Think I'll show the kids too so they don't freak out)

 

[marmalady]

LOL, what was even grosser was watching the head chef tryng to scrape off the 'bad' mold so he could use what was left!

 

[Alix]

What restaurant was that again? Just want to put it on my "Don't Visit" list!

 

[marmalady]

Not to worry - has been 'under new management' for some years now!

 

[purrfectlydevine]

Around here many food products have a "sell by" rather than a "use by" date. For example the "sell by" date on milk is 9 days after pasteurization. Sometimes it keeps for a week or 2 after that date, sometimes not. I suspect there are lots of variables at work such as how many times the carton was removed from the fridge to how long is was out of the fridge each time it was used. I think most people could detect milk that has soured but I don't think it would hurt you (just taste nasty). How many recipes call for sour milk and tell you how to make sour milk if you don't have any?

 

[norgeskog]

YW, Nors! Yeah, re the buttermilk thing, I've used it up to 3 weeks after the date, and it's been fine.

Re blue cheese, and other 'molded' cheeses, it can get overripe, and I've seen it where one mold outgrew the original mold and it was totally yucky! This unfortunately was in a restaurant kitchen, where a wheel of blue had gotten shoved accidentally in the back of the cooler, and no one found it for a month!

marmalady, that must have been a smelly mess. Yeah, I have noticed blue cheese gets slimy when old, however, it is never around my house long enough to have a problem, and I always have my food saver so things rarely go bad.

 

[DampCharcoal]

Great info, Marm! That article justifies all the previously questionable decisions I've made regarding dairy products!

 

[LadyCook61]

I've had milk go sour even before the use by date.

hubby wanted to use a jar of cocktail sauce that was sitting on the shelf for the past 3 yrs. I told him I threw it out, it was date 2005 and he says maybe it was still good.