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Shelf life of cooking oil?

post #1 of 4
11/4/05 at 11:54am
Thread Starter 
How long should a bottle of vegetable oil sitting in the cupboard be good for? The labels say "Best By xxxxx" date. How long after that would it be safe to use?
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post #2 of 4
11/4/05 at 12:58pm
Hey Slater! Welcome to the forum.
I don't believe it's so much of a safety as much as a quality issue. Oil that has passed its shelf life will smell rancid and stale. If you have any doubt as to the quality smell it. If it doesn't smell clean and or appealing to you, trash it. Rancid oil may get you sickly, but it will be obvious that's it's past its prime before you use it.
I'm sure you can get a more scientific answer if you like. I'm sure someone else will give you more info that I.
Now as long as you're here, why not stop by the Welcome Forum, introduce yourself and join in the fun!
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post #3 of 4
11/10/05 at 12:09pm
When you say vegetable oil, do you meant soybean? Corn? Peanut? Is it a big name brand?

Every type of oil has a different level of saturation. The more saturated an oil is, the less susceptible it is to spoiling. The extreme end of this is crisco (hydrogenated oil). Hydrogenation is basically artificial saturation.

Impurities are also a factor in oil shelf life. A heavily processed bottle of wesson soybean oil will last quite a bit longer than an impurity rich oil like extra virgin olive. The more refined an oil is, the longer it lasts.

Is it a dark cupboard? Is it in plastic? Glass? Clear or dark? Is the cupboard warm? Has the bottle been opened?

Heat, light and air are all enemies of oil.

There's an unknown factor here as well. What kind of treatment did your oil receive at the bottling plant or the supermarket? Did they leave the palette out on a sunny loading dock in the middle of summer for a few days?

I buy small bottles of expeller pressed oil packed with nitrogen, I add a gel cap of vitamin e to each and I store it in the refrigerator. But then I take fresh oil really seriously.
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post #4 of 4
11/10/05 at 3:00pm
A very general rule of thumb is that most vegetable oils have a shelf life of about 1 year.

HOWEVER..............

Scott123 makes a number of very good points, all of which are caveats to the 1 year rule.

Ergo, I prefer a "general" rule of 6 months to take into account variability.

Mark
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