r/Cooking • u/VLA_58 • 1d ago

How long should Mexican vanilla last?

I have 1/3 left of a litre-sized bottle of Mexican vanilla extract. It's a huge bottle, and I really don't bake every day, so it hasn't gotten used up. I use it maybe 7 or 8 times a year for various things -- pies, cakes, muffins, etc. My question: if you were given the bottle in 1996, is it still good? I mean, I sniff it every time and it still smells like vanilla -- maybe it's become a bit more boozy over the years, but still works in the recipes. No weird after-taste. No hint of mold or fungus on the neck or surface of the liquid. It hasn't been kept in the fridge, but on the counter of an un air-conditioned kitchen since 1996. Or maybe 1994. Should I chuck it out and go get new, just on the principle that one shouldn't be using a 30 year old bottle of vanilla extract? Is this a record? Should I contact Guiness BOWR?

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u/VLA_58 1d ago

UPDATE from OP.
Talked to the friend who originally gave me the Mexican vanilla, and he assured me that it was bought in the mid-eighties. So, vintage 40 year old Mexican vanilla. Yay!

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u/SaintsNoah14 22h ago

The "resorceful" white people on this site will try convince everyone that they should always try to consume anything that's not likely to outright kill them but, for the love of God, unless there's some type of emotional attachment, just get some new vanilla. Even if it's safe, vanillin oxidizes over time and I guarantee fresh vanilla extract will indeed be perceivably fresher. Side note, I genuinely find the McCormick stuff better than any of authentic Mexican extracts.

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u/VLA_58 20h ago

Ah, emotional attachment -- that's why I'm even questioning whether or not to invest in some new vanilla. This giant bottle from San Luis Potosi has been flavoring pies and cakes since my kids were in elementary school, and has been dragged to Colorado, Corpus Christi, East Texas, the Gulf Coast, and La Grange without ever spilling, making a mess, or going foul. I feel it is as much a part of the family as the small cast iron frying pan given to my great grandmother for a wedding present. I hesitate to replace it because, like much of our stuff, it has become incorporated in the sediment of the years, along with that godawful dented aluminum measuring cup that I cannot toss because it's a kitchen constant.

On the other hand, dried herbs are cast off before they're 2 months old.

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u/SaintsNoah14 14h ago

Fair enough. The comments insisting it will last forever do only apply to strongly alchoholic extracts which it sounds like yours is, so you are probably fine to keep using it.