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View Full Version : how do you tell if dates have gone bad?


ArmsOfLove
04-25-2007, 02:47 PM
:scratch

I just went to use them but the date on them is 3/29/07 (thus my switch to Bulkapean eating :doh)

But are they really bad? They don't stink. They look like dates :shrug

poleidopy
04-25-2007, 02:53 PM
:giggle I was actually going to post the SAME question!!! Once I transferred mine from the store's plastic containers to my glass jars, they had dried out a little. Aren't they supposed to be more chewy & less hard & dry? Anyway, :popcorn for the answer to your question (as the baby is CHEWING on my leg...ow, ow, ow) :shifty

doubleblessings
04-25-2007, 03:18 PM
I don't know, but DH kept some in the fridge that he bought last Christmas ('05) for :scratch maybe 5-6 months and was still eating some of them (he way over bought). I finally tossed the rest but he said they were still good.

Beauty4Ashes
04-25-2007, 03:48 PM
I know this from experience. Dates keep quite well in the refrigerator. But if they are not refrigerated and start getting really dry skin and kind of crunchy and if you open them up and find little critters inside, then they are too old. Dh always brings back dates from Syria; people buy the medjool dates from Saudi Arabia to give to us, so we are stuck with tons of dates for a long while.

ArmsOfLove
04-25-2007, 04:47 PM
thank you :hug I also called a friend who loves dates and she said basically the same thing--that they are like raisins but they might dry out and crystallize.

so should be good for what I'm making :)

Beauty4Ashes
04-25-2007, 05:04 PM
Although when the dates get really dry, they can still work for a date filling. In the Arab world, there's this cookie called mahmoul, it's a buttery cookie stuffed with a date filling. I made some with dates that were pretty dry and they still tasted pretty good.

poleidopy
04-25-2007, 05:32 PM
OK, now I am really freaked out about finding "critters" in my dates. Yeah, I've only had them for a few days, but still. :sick So should I stick the glass container they're in in the fridge?

And Crystal, now I am dying to know what you're making. :yes

ETA: I'm glad someone knew the answer - I tried googling "do dates go bad?" and just got a lot of weird relationship advice. :shifty

Teacher Mom
04-25-2007, 05:34 PM
Until I read what forum this was in, I thought you were talking about dating dates........

Yeah, you just know when they have gone bad..... :laughtears

Beauty4Ashes
04-25-2007, 06:02 PM
Next week on Oprah: When good dates go bad and how to spot a bad one before it gets you. :laughtears
OK, now I am really freaked out about finding "critters" in my dates. Yeah, I've only had them for a few days, but still. :sick So should I stick the glass container they're in in the fridge?

And Crystal, now I am dying to know what you're making. :yes

ETA: I'm glad someone knew the answer - I tried googling "do dates go bad?" and just got a lot of weird relationship advice. :shifty


ftr, those dates had been sitting in our pantry for months, maybe even close to 1 year. After a couple of days, nothing should be wrong with them.

jghomeschooler
04-25-2007, 06:37 PM
:laughtears :laughtears :laughtears :laughtears :laughtears @ the relationship advice, i would not have expected such results while looking for food info LOL

ArmsOfLove
04-25-2007, 06:42 PM
:laughtears :laughtears :laughtears that's funny

I'm making a recipe from Living Without called Sephardic Haroset Pick Me Ups. I'll try to post the recipe later :)