We’ve all been there: Unimaginable things, formerly known as foodstuffs, are hiding in the fridge, the freezer or the food cabinet (aka pantry).
Some of these foodstuffs have the decency to turn into biohazard rather quickly and fairly obviously. Tomatoes. Minced meat. That leftover piece of sushi (how did that even happen?) Others undergo the same process much more slowly and largely stay under the radar. Eggs. Rice and flour. And then there are things that seem to last forever. Case in point: Yoghurt.
I had a truly ancient drinking yoghurt in my fridge, still unopened since I bought it – all the way back in March 2019. Yes, the liquid part had risen to the top of the bottle, but the color of the rest looked good. So: I tried it the other day.
With experiments like these I like to be extra careful. If something looks off or smells off, I don’t need the taste test anymore, into the bin it goes. But after I threw away the protective liquid on top of the bottle, the yoghurt seemed fine, so out came the spoon.
The result: A perfectly fine yoghurt, wonderfully creamy, a bit sweeter than I had remembered the taste, but perfectly edible. Since this started out as a drink yoghurt, I had to cut the bottle in half to get to all of it, but other than that, no surprises, and I had a nice breakfast in the end.
Of course, I didn’t set out to do such an experiment; why I even took the yoghurt along in the first place -remember that I moved here in 2021 – I don’t even know. But it does go to show that expiration dates are not all they are made out to be, sometimes at least. So, I certainly don’t recommend clogging up your fridge with old food, but… I still think it was worth it.
I do think I’ll have to toss the miso, though. However, there’s still that tofu I bought when I lived in my old apartment…