cornflour (and flour) shelf life

MaizieD

It's an absolute baby at a year and a half

I have never seen a weevil in any sort of flour in my entire life and I sometimes have bags for much more than a year It doesn't degrade either. Your flours are perfectly safe.

The dates are a legal requirement and for dried goods they're more likely to be based on guesswork than any food science.

It's an absolute baby at a year and a half
😁

I only once had something suspect in a bag of flour because I'd opened it, used some then left it in the bag. No, I don't know why because it always gets decanted into glass jars with a good seal or Tupperware containers.

Actually, I don't note the sell by dates when I decant dried foods so some could be past the sell by date.

I'd throw out rice past its date but not flour.

nanna8

I’ve found weevils in old unopened packets of flour so now I reckon anything more than a year old out it goes. The flour in question was kept at a holiday house, probably a couple of years old. Horrible little things that must have been there all the time unhatched.

nanna8 DD, who lives in the tropical north, always keeps flour etc in sealed containers in the fridge.

but have to be careful with the bay leaves as they’re poisonous to dogs
😲 I didn't know that.

If you feed birds, they love weevils!

Allira

^but have to be careful with the bay leaves as they’re poisonous to dogs^
😲 I didn't know that.

Everything is poisonous to dogs. It was much better, pre internet, when I had no idea that anything was poisonous to dogs, given that the children were always eating things like chocolate, raisins and grapes. Then again I had spaniels back then who couldn’t steal things off counters. I then had a spaniel and a whippet so one would knock the food off the table for them both to eat. Thankfully I never gave my dogs anything other than dog food and stuff like xylitol probably wasn’t used in shop bought cakes etc. I found a plastic bag in the living room the other day that looked as if something had been stolen from it but never worked out what it was. Sometimes we put dog treats in a bag and forget they’re in a trouser pocket and she sniffs them out.

Weevils don't get into flour when it's in bags or in flour containers. The weevil eggs are already in the flour when you buy it and they hatch.

That’s why it’s important to freeze it for a while after purchasing it. It’s the only thing that kills them off.

I have had flour go off as we tend to use maybe 5 or 6 different ones regularly but some others only occasionally. I taste old flours before baking with them.
You can tell if it's off.

It's the flour bought in big sacks that have gone out of favour (and been left) that have eventually gone off here. The last kilo or two of 25kg or 500g say from 16kg. I definitely remember those two.

Now I try to force myself to use the flours up in proper rotation (even if I'm dying to use that lush nutty Castelvetrano Flour!

...I don't always do it.

I'd keep the cornflour!

I didn’t know about the freezer tip for flour - I have had repeated weevil infestations so that’s good to know. Not in old flour either. I suspect it’s often in the folds of the packaging.

DD2 had pantry moths - they were gross and she couldn’t find the source. Just kept finding the larvae crawling up the walls and across the ceiling.

The weevils can really travel, small as they are! It was a horrible few months. I sealed all of the crevices in my larder with masking tape, stuck bay leaves to the walls. Put cloves in my airtight containers. Washed everything down with vinegar and put some sort of powder on the shelves ( can’t remember what it was). Given that I found some in the tin of porridge I fear that they’re still lurking, waiting for an opportunity to make my life hell again. I had found weevils in flour in the past without them getting into everything so I reckon it must have been down to the humidity in the house at the time. I kept the dehumidifier running non stop for a while. I’ve also draught proofed my house so much that it probably doesn’t get aired as much as it should.

This post set me thinking about the very old packet of icing sugar which I only use once a year to dust the top of mincepies. I just went and had a look - Best Before July 2015!! I can’t bring myself to bin it as it’s still almost a full box!!

MayBee70

Allira

but have to be careful with the bay leaves as they’re poisonous to dogs
😲 I didn't know that.

Everything is poisonous to dogs. It was much better, pre internet, when I had no idea that anything was poisonous to dogs, given that the children were always eating things like chocolate, raisins and grapes. Then again I had spaniels back then who couldn’t steal things off counters. I then had a spaniel and a whippet so one would knock the food off the table for them both to eat. Thankfully I never gave my dogs anything other than dog food and stuff like xylitol probably wasn’t used in shop bought cakes etc. I found a plastic bag in the living room the other day that looked as if something had been stolen from it but never worked out what it was. Sometimes we put dog treats in a bag and forget they’re in a trouser pocket and she sniffs them out.

Everything is poisonous to dogs. It was much better, pre internet, when I had no idea that anything was poisonous to dogs, given that the children were always eating things like chocolate, raisins and grapes

Yes, I did know chocolate and raisins etc were poisonous to dogs years ago but I used to feed our last, very small, dog with leftover spaghetti bolognese (tomatoes) and he was always fine.

We had a spaniel once and he was a food thief.
It's surprising how far a small cockapoo can reach when something tempting is on the table.

Gilly1952

This post set me thinking about the very old packet of icing sugar which I only use once a year to dust the top of mincepies. I just went and had a look - Best Before July 2015!! I can’t bring myself to bin it as it’s still almost a full box!!

Doesn't sugar keep for ever?
Honey does!

I once bought flour from a high end supermarket, in date, but full of those weevils when I opened the bag 😩