Colman's mustard definitely DOES go off!

[ColinJ]

All these 'Does xxx go off?' threads just reminded me of my mate's 40th birthday barbecue party which took place 13 years ago...

His mother had died when he was young so he had been living with his grandmother for a number of years, then she too died and he bought his own house. The years went by and eventually he became 40. He was having a do in his rather splendid back garden and I'd made sure that he got some veggie burgers in for me, and cooked them well away from the meat. I fancied some mustard on my food and he told me that there was a jar on the shelf in his kitchen. It was getting dark by then so I couldn't really see what I was doing when I spread the mustard on the burgers.

I took one big bite out of a burger and promptly spat it out all over my friend - it was absolutely foul! I ran into the kitchen and rinsed my mouth out, and then retrieved the jar of mustard which I took back into the kitchen to examine in the light. To my horror, I saw that it was...





















8 years past its use-by date!!! The mustard was dark brown rather than bright yellow ! When I complained about his attempt to poison me, my mate calmly said "Oh right, I don't eat mustard - that must have been in the box of stuff I brought over from my gran's kitchen after she died!"

So, I can tell you - Colman's mustard definitely does go off - eventually.

 

[fossyant]

8 years...oh...... Think I'd bin after a couple on any preserve !!!!! I've got Mint and Horse Raddish in the fridge that's over a year old as I'm the only one that has any on the Sunday Roast, that's when I remember to have some....yum.....

 

[Mr Phoebus]

8 years past its use-by date!!! The mustard was dark brown rather than bright yellow ! When I complained about his attempt to poison me, my mate calmly said "Oh right, I don't eat mustard - that must have been in the box of stuff I brought over from my gran's kitchen after she died!"

Maybe she'd been draining her pustules into the jar?

 

[yenrod]

All these 'Does xxx go off?' threads just reminded me of my mate's 40th birthday barbecue party which took place 13 years ago...

His mother had died when he was young so he had been living with his grandmother for a number of years, then she too died and he bought his own house. The years went by and eventually he became 40. He was having a do in his rather splendid back garden and I'd made sure that he got some veggie burgers in for me, and cooked them well away from the meat. I fancied some mustard on my food and he told me that there was a jar on the shelf in his kitchen. It was getting dark by then so I couldn't really see what I was doing when I spread the mustard on the burgers.

I took one big bite out of a burger and promptly spat it out all over my friend - it was absolutely foul! I ran into the kitchen and rinsed my mouth out, and then retrieved the jar of mustard which I took back into the kitchen to examine in the light. To my horror, I saw that it was...





















8 years past its use-by date!!! The mustard was dark brown rather than bright yellow ! When I complained about his attempt to poison me, my mate calmly said "Oh right, I don't eat mustard - that must have been in the box of stuff I brought over from my gran's kitchen after she died!"

So, I can tell you - Colman's mustard definitely does go off - eventually.

8yrs: WOW !

 

[alecstilleyedye]

might have been french mustard…

 

[Maz]

8 years! Yuk! I hope you didn't accidentally swallow any of it.

 

[gratts]

We have a big american style chest freezer at home. 4 kids meant my parents never got a chance to clear it out. When the day came that they finally got round to it they found a stuffed turkey joint that was 10 years out of date..and cooked and ate it!!!
I actually tried some, it didn't taste too bad!

So I don't think frozen stuff ever goes off

 

[Keith Oates]

At 10 years I wouldn't have even tried to cook it, the dustbin is the only place it should go IMO. However you've lived to tell the tale, but I wouldn't advise others to try the same thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[swee'pea99]

Didn't they try some of the tinned stuff from Scott's fatal expedition & it was ok? Seem to remember a mention of it...

 

[ColinJ]

I don't know if an unopened jar of Colman's (English!) Mustard would last over 8 years, but the one in question had clearly been opened and half-used by my mate's late grandma and then left lying around in a warm kitchen for nearly a decade !

PS No, I didn't swallow any of the mustard - there was instant retching. I used the mustard plus burger to redecorate my friend's face as a 40th birthday treat.

 

[Kirstie]

Dijon mustard also goes off, as we found out the other week. Foul enough to make you sick...

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

I have it on good authority that Molasses also has a 'best before' date for a reason.

My Mum used to drink it in Tea back in about 1980 (I know, sick woman!!) but then changed to something less gross and the tin of Molasses got forgotten... anyway, one day in the kitchen I was just doing myself some toast when there was a loud POP sound and the cupboard door opened a bit and then closed back.... imagine my horror when I gingerly opened it to find that the inside of the cupboard was covered in a sticky black mess. Once we had cleaned a bit off few things we found the culprit - it was the afore mentioned tin of Molasses that had exploded everywhere. Further cleaning of the tin allowed us to see that it had a best before date of.....














12 years previously!!!

Needless to say we've never had the stuff since (not even sure you can get it in cans these days!), but it was a shocker even for my parents who are pretty much renowned for ignoring sell by/best before dates amongst my friends (cans of Boddingtons last Christmas that were 3 years past their best, Lilt a mere 2 years out of date etc.)

 

[radger]

I remember at least two exploding cans of Tate and Lyle's black treacle from my childhood in the 1980s. And they were nowhere near 12 years past their date.

I ate some yogurt that was two weeks beyond its use-by the other day. It smelled ok; tasted a bit odd though. No ill-effects suffered (my mother was never a believer in best-before dates, so I think I have a steel-lined stomach).

 

[Paulus]

I am not a great fan of chucking stuff out on the day the sell by says so. Most food stuff will be ok for a while afterwards as long as it is kept cool or frozen. My old dad has two tins of powdered egg in the cupboard that came from my grandmother dated 1941 and 1942. I know my mum used a couple of tins of this stuff to make cakes back in the 1970's and it was fine then, but another 35 odd years on???

 

[andy_wrx]

What a mard-arse you are, Colin.

My mother-in-law keeps a jar of mustard for me at her house.
They don't eat it, no-one else does, it's just kept in the cupboard for me as we invariably (in-variably, a creature of habit, the m-i-l...) have a salad including pork pie.
It must be 3 to 4 years past sell-by now. It is getting a bit dark, but it tastes OK.
She's tried to bin it a couple of times, but I won't let her.

Similarly, I have a tube of mustard (like a toothpaste tube, from Colmans) in the top pocket of my rucksack, to enliven dull sandwiches.
This one has gone off - it's not noxious or anything, it's just got no bite, you can smother a butty in it and still barely taste it...