Stock Concentrate Spoilage

November 7, 2013 10:50 AM

I have some shelf-stable chicken stock concentrate. It's not a dry cube, but rather a sort of gel consistency. The expiration date is 10/13. I know it's just a little past the date, and I'm inclined to use it. Would you?

I feel quite silly asking this question.

posted by redfishbluefish to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

I'd use it in a hot minute. Those concentrates tent to have a lot of salt in them, so I wouldn't worry.
posted by quince at 10:53 AM on November 7, 2013 [3 favorites]

Best answer: open it, if it smells okay, use it. (if it smells off or weird, don't use it!)
posted by royalsong at 10:54 AM on November 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

Not a silly question at all.

I wouldn't but ymmv. Here's my thought process.

First, I have bad experiences with diet soda that is a single day past its expiration date, so I am sensitive to the issue.

Second, in general, when I'm using stock, it's the base for something delicious that I'm cooking, often a soup that gets its character from the stock. In the same way that I use the best wine I can reasonably afford when I'm making wine-based foods, I want to use the best stock I can reasonably afford when making stock-based foods. I might make my own stock, but for sure I would get the most recently packaged stock concentrate I could afford and I wouldn't feel guilty about dumping the old concentrate.

Conversely, of course, you're right, it's very close to the expiration date and one assumes they date them conservatively.
posted by janey47 at 10:54 AM on November 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Those sell/use by dqtes may not mean all that much, says this study reported by Cnn. I'd have no qualms about using it.
posted by Requiax at 10:58 AM on November 7, 2013

is it like this gel? as long as it looked and smelled like i expected, i'd absolutely use it. now you make me realize that i should check the expiration of my beef stock gel.
posted by nadawi at 11:00 AM on November 7, 2013

I'm right there with royalsong. Smell it. Then decide, but if it smells fine, totally use it.
posted by Sophie1 at 11:02 AM on November 7, 2013

Sealed, shelf-stable, salty, and only one week past expiration? Hell yeah. I mean, I'd check it visually, sniff it, and taste it before using it, but I do that with everything I use, no matter what the expiration date.
posted by pont at 11:03 AM on November 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Here's a search of StillTasty chicken stock, and at the long end, an unopened container of chicken broth, stock or consomme, commercially canned or bottled is still OK to eat 2 to 5 years past the sell-by date, though it might not taste as good as something opened by it's sell-by date.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:03 AM on November 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: It smells fine. I'm forging ahead with my dinner soup plans. Thanks everyone!
posted by redfishbluefish at 11:10 AM on November 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

FYI, I've used longer expired stock gel than that, and while it works, it can sometimes impart a musty, dusty, sort of stale flavor deep in the background of your soup/stew.

It took me three different pots of chicken noodles with my expired stock before I realized that's why it tasted funny. Not bad. Just slightly weird.
posted by headspace at 11:35 AM on November 7, 2013

I've used that stuff expired for literally years (don't use it much) and have not died yet. It still tasted fine, too. If it looks and smells fine, I wouldn't worry at all.
posted by randomnity at 8:23 PM on November 7, 2013