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The wife and I were cleaning off some of the shelves down stairs and found a box with twelve quarts of tomato juice that was canned in August of 1993. The juice is still a good red color and the lids are still sealed. I opened one the jars and it smell good. What are your thoughts on it still being usable?

Thanks

Probably OK if the color was ok.

When canned tomatoes go bad, they take on a brownish color.

One sip will tell the tale.

Let your wife taste it and see what happens.


























J/k of course. I'm not sure what the real answer is but I'd be a bit leary of drinking something that's been in a jar for 24 years.

When I cleaned out my parent house years ago, I found jars of green beans my Mother had put up.....in 1949!
This was in 2002! They looked good but none of us was brave enough to try them.

As a rule we dont keep ours passed 5 yrs (tomatoes)


Now, green beans....they can almost go 10 yrs lol
The wife found some at her grandparents house dated 1989. Hahaha, they made it a special dish at a family dinner last year. NFW was i eating them. They survived.

Actually the tomatoes would be way safer than the green beans. Tomatoes you can 100% safely can just by open kettle canning because of the high acidity. Beans should be pressure cooked to be safe on account of botulism and to cover any possible mistakes as far as cleanliness. But my mother has canned everything under the sun for yrs. She's never trusted a pressure cooker, just does hot water bath canning on things like beans with no problems ever.

I would put it in a pot and cook it for 15 minutes, let it cool, then taste it.

If there is no botulinum bacteria present on the beans when they're canned, there is no danger. The problem comes when botulinum IS present. Hot water canning without a pressure cooker can't get it hot enough to destroy the toxin.

Depends on how they were canned. Pressure cooked probably ok. Normally we try to use everything within 5 years but have had stuff go 10 years.

Thanks for all the replies. I am going to taste it and see what happens. Hell I would just as soon get sick from something we canned as something from the store.......lol. If the taste test goes well, I will sterilize some more with Absolute, a celery stick and Tabasco. Will report back.

Again Thanks!

Reminds me of when I was cleaning out my Mother's house in 2004. Found several hundred pounds of staples; four, sugar, pasta, spices, rice, and dried bean in 50 gallons plastic survivalist water drums. I also found many gallons of homemade wine, some of it was over 20 years old that looked/tasted like Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry. I donated the staples to the local food pantry and gave the wine to my Mother's elderly friends for medicinal purposes.

Really old canned stuff is safe as far as bugs but it will usually break down and be off flavored. It may or may not be edible but it won't kill you. Dry goods will keep a LONG time if sealed to keep out bugs and rodents. Archaeologists have found grain stored in sealed jars in Egyptian tombs that still germinated. Usually wine will keep ok if it's stored right but sometimes it will be really nasty vinegar.

Make a double bloody mary and see what happens.

WELL HE HAS NOT REPORTED BACK..... NOT GOOD SO FAR !!!!!!

Obviously not a Scotch fan.

Yes but if you can spot botulism you're better than any doctor without a microscope. And it only takes a minute amount to poison the whole well over time. But like I said my mother cans everything under the sun and never did use a pressure cooker. I do though, particularly on things like string beans.

No, you can't spot it in advance. Therefore, if you don't use a pressure cooker on stuff like beans, you're playing with fire. It's not worth the risk.

Yep.

Use the hell out of it, I would save it till Winter for use in stews, soups and chili.

A gallon of iced cold PBR tomato beer for the win.