Canning expiration dates?

[Bettacreek]

How long do canned goods last? Obviously check seals and such, but on average, how long can home canned foods last?

 

[Kim_NC]

Many will start to loose flavor in the jar (or a commercial can) after 2 yrs. However, if canned properly, they remain safe to eat indefinitely as long as the seal is unbroken - but the loss of flavor or texture over an extended time will make them inedible.

 

[Woodland Woman]

Personally I would say 2 years but I have eaten some things that I canned 4 years previously and they were fine.

Some years ago I went to a museum where they had a boat that was bringing supplies up the Missouri River and sunk in the 1800's. At one point the river changed course and the area where the boat sank became a farmers field. Many years later they dug up the boat and most things were preserved. What amazed me were the cherries that were still good, perfectly preserved in jars.

 

[Blackbird]

We have canned food(home canned) over ten years old in our stash that we eat and no issues here.. Oldest I've ever eaten was probably around twenty years.

 

[Iceblink]

At the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum in Burr Oak they have a jar of green tomatoes that was canned over a hundred years ago. The seal is still good, so I suppose technically so are the tomatoes. I wouldn't eat them though!

Last summer I was helping clean out a house where the couple had died, they had jars of canned goods so old you couldn't tell what most of them were. Some of them had been green tomatoes at one point though, I'm sure. Lesson learned - never can green tomatoes.

 

[The Vail Benton's]

I helped my grandmother clean out her garage back in the mid 90's - I found about 3 dozen jars of what I THINK were once peaches, the date on the jars was 1936, if my memory serves me. She was quite upset that I refused to open the jars, bury the contents, and save the jars for her.

 

[Kim_NC]

There was a bunch of very old canned food left in our root cellar when we bought the place. We emptied all we could onto the compost pile, rinsed them, soaked a few, and put them through the dishwasher. I got some lovely unusual masons that way - many made in the 30s or 40s.

Unfortunately many were stored with the rings/bands left on. They had rusted so tightly they could not be removed. I tried a couple different methods and finally gave up on those.

 

[tamlynn]

Official recommendation is one year. I have no problem with 2 years. We have some applesauce that is 3 three years and it is starting to discolor, but my kids still eat it.

I think the whole point of home canned food is to make as much as you will use in a year, so when the next crop comes around, you are ready to reuse those bottles.

 

[gettinaclue]

We have some stuff in the pantry that my MIL canned 5 yrs ago and they taste like fresh.

Never had any problem eating them.

 

[TanksHill]

I helped my grandmother clean out her garage back in the mid 90's - I found about 3 dozen jars of what I THINK were once peaches, the date on the jars was 1936, if my memory serves me. She was quite upset that I refused to open the jars, bury the contents, and save the jars for her.

I posted a Craigslist add for free jars. A very nice man responded. He had literally gone out in his yard under his lemon tree and dug up jars for me. Then he found more that were full, in the water bath pot. I brought them home and emptied, soaked and washed them. They were fine. The scary stuff I dumped out was another story. A couple of the jars were so gross looking they went straight into the trash. Without being opened.

Good to know home canning last a while. I would hate for those great things to go to waste.

gina