Anything safely preserved and still properly sealed is going to be safe to eat indefinitely.

Consider this exerpt from FDA Consumer:

"The steamboat Bertrand was heavily laden with provisions when it set out on the Missouri River in 1865, destined for the gold mining camps in Fort Benton, Mont. The boat snagged and swamped under the weight, sinking to the bottom of the river. It was found a century later, under 30 feet of silt a little north of Omaha, Neb.

Among the canned food items retrieved from the Bertrand in 1968 were brandied peaches, oysters, plum tomatoes, honey, and mixed vegetables. In 1974, chemists at the National Food Processors Association (NFPA) analyzed the products for bacterial contamination and nutrient value. Although the food had lost its fresh smell and appearance, the NFPA chemists detected no microbial growth and determined that the foods were as safe to eat as they had been when canned more than 100 years earlier.

The nutrient values varied depending upon the product and nutrient. NFPA chemists Janet Dudek and Edgar Elkins report that significant amounts of vitamins C and A were lost. But protein levels remained high, and all calcium values "were comparable to today's products."

NFPA chemists also analyzed a 40-year-old can of corn found in the basement of a home in California. Again, the canning process had kept the corn safe from contaminants and from much nutrient loss. In addition, Dudek says, the kernels looked and smelled like recently canned corn.

So basically if something canned in 1865 is still safely edible, anything you have on your shelves is going to be fine at least for your lifetime.

Now whether you want to eat something old is different matter. I just discarded quite a number of jars of older product in my big clear-out. It was something I canned that we didn't like, the color had changed to an unappealing brown, it was soft and had lost texture or the flavor had faded.

In other words, if it looks good, smells good and tastes good, consume it. If not, discard.

Carol

I have no problems consuming 3-4 year old canned goods if, as Carol said, it still has an appealing appearance and 99% of the time it does. We track the contents fairly well so things seldom get older than that for us.

When the kids were young we weren't nearly as well organized but seldom tossed anything no matter how many years old it was. When done correctly in the first place there are no safety issues as it ages.

Dave

One of my projects this year has been serious culling and re-organization.

We had a period a few years back with multiple serious family health issues followed by grueling estate responsibilities and my husband's VA disability claim. (Speaking of grueling.) In the process all kinds of stored items got shoved to the back or intermingled. It was like discovering new territory to find some of the foods I had stashed, including a world-class collection of condiments.

I gave to friends a number of items I'd tried that we just didn't care for. My husband doesn't like chipotle in any way, shape or form, so chipotle salsa was a loser from the get-go.

It feels really good to look at the shelves now and know exactly what I have. I'd planned to can lots of applesauce as it was a great apple year here, until I realized we had a couple of cases of it I'd lost track of.

Carol

The only thing that I try to consume within the year is homemade jams. They really do start losing quality after a year- but we'll eat them much longer if we have them. Once they hit the three year mark though, then I consider them toast.

If you know anyone who baits for bear hunting- old jams make great bear bait.

Thanks everyone. I thought it was all safe, but I tend to not be all that cautious when it comes to some things. While I have been meaning to rearrange my shelves for a long time, it was actually the passing of a friend that made me do so. I was blessed with all of his canning jars (that is a whole different post!) and I had to find room to fit them in.

Thanks again!

I just found some medlar jelly from 1996. Rather sweet since the label was written by my then 9 year old daughter. She's 25 now. I'll probably use it in gravy for roasts. It's essentially slightly fruit flavoured sugar now.

very good information, I was passing out my apple butter and ketchups last month bc I thought you had to consume within 1 year.

bc I thought you had to consume within 1 year.

Oh no. Hope you didn't throw those away. That would be a terrible waste of work and food.

Honestly many garden and can on 3-4 year cycles. Grow and can extra tomatoes one year and then use that garden space and canning work for extra beans the next year and potatoes the following year and so on. Even most commercial canned foods have a multiple year shelf life.

Of course length of shelf life depends a great deal on the methods of storage - cool, dry, and dark - but 5 years is an actively used average.

Dave

Actually, I have a rule that if it looks, smells, and tastes right (in that order) then it's still good.

the rule of thumb is when canning, when in doubt, go the extra minute or five. the extra few minutes means a big difference between a food that can be eaten a couple decades from now to a food that will go bad in a few months. take the time and do it right.

pickles and pickled items (including relishes since they are made from pickles) are exempt from this because of the acids and sugars used to create them. Some pickles are canned and created on the storage shelf meaning you can't eat them for a month or two after canning. these items have indefinite life spans.

Thank you, Everyone! I had the same question.

A friend was visiting a small Civil War museum in Arkansas (I think). There wasn't anyone else there except for the guy working. He was distressed because he was moving some things around and broke a jar of pickles that dated to the war. My friend is a real character, and asked what he was going to do with them now. The guy said he'd throw them away. You know what happened next. "Let's try one." "OK." He said they had a very good taste and were still crunchy. And there were no reports of extraordinary visits to the blue rooms. Scientific? Not hardly, but isn't a lot of our knowledge acquired via trial and error?

BTW, that led to discussions about the brine recipe used to keep pickles crunchy for 150 years. Any thoughts?

Still crunchy even...that's amazing! When was pickle crisp invented?

I've seen a commercial can or two that after 3 or 4 years becomes distended, and obviously full of bad stuff. Why would commercial metal cans go bad, seemingly faster than glass containers, if they're correctly processed? Do the same rules discussed earlier in this thread apply to metal/commercial cans?

--Rick in CT

"Why would commercial metal cans go bad, seemingly faster than glass containers, if they're correctly processed? Do the same rules discussed earlier in this thread apply to metal/commercial cans?"

I don't think so. Very liittle reacts with glass containers. Not true for metal. Since most tin can foods are acidic in nature over time they will begin to react with the metal and break down the seal.

Dave

Jumping in on Dave's comment, we were cleaning Dad's apartment after he passed away. Beneath the kitchen counter, way in the back, we found what used to be a large can of stewed tomatoes. The bottom of the can was completely gone, long since eaten away, presumably by the acid in the tomatoes. Said tomatoes had dried and turned into a reddish dust.

...also, most metal cans nowadays have a plastic coating on the inside, which is not healthy but 'good for business'. Just another reason to can your own if possible. Even the lids of glass jars are lined. It seems like there's no getting away from it....

--Rr

I would open the older jars, taste/smell them then take the older things to a pot-luck! You get lots of compliments and get rid of the older stuff! Nancy

After about 5 years most of the things that are left in my pantry don't look very appetizing any more. (I try not to let that happen but sometimes things get lost.) Strawberry jam starts to really lose color in a year so we make sure that one gets eaten. Blackberry doesn't really change color so it lasts longer.

I was so happy to find this thread! I was just throwing out some food l'd canned that was anywhere from 4-6 yrs old. We've been too afraid to eat it. But I stopped when I got to the applesauce I had worked so hard on, and made such a big mess doing in 2011!! It was an awesome year for apples, so I made some for the first time ever! And I haven't done it since! I decided to look on line to see just how long home canned goods can last, and I have read some very interesting and informative things. Thank you for your help everyone! I'm going to open that applesauce and give it a try! And the stewed tomatoes with garlic from 2011 too!!! Yum!

I have some things that are older that I know are safe, but the reason they are old is I didn't really care for the food/recipe! I want to recycle/repurpose into something else so they aren't wasted. The jam I didn't like I can make candy out of, if I can just make the time. My husband will eat it. :-)

I don't know what to do with the pickled onion recipes or the onion relishes. I had such an abundance of onions that season, I ran out of freezer space, so I was desperate for ways to use them. No clue what to do with them. Hate to toss, but I'd rather use the jars for something else. I think I made Onions in Red wine vinegar, maybe one that had honey in it too, can't remember. Whatever was in the Ball book, I think I tried! lol. All I know is we don't like them!

We all do that now and then, especially when first starting out. I find the compost pile benefits greatly from them and then we have the jars available for something new. I honestly can't see wasting the time, energy, and additional ingredients to try to salvage them. JMO

Dave

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I have just purchased a new home, the previous (wonderful) owners left me some amazing homemade preserves, however when I checked the date, the oldest jar was 7 years old. I wasn't sure if they would still be good after that long of a period of time, but after reading your comments, I feel much better about it.

I have canned red potatoes that I canned 3 years ago and they still look good and smell good and taste exactly like boiled red potatoes. So hopefully they are still safe to eat.

I also have some canned pinto beans from 3 years ago. I haven't opened them up but they still look good in the jar. So maybe they are still good as well as the red potatoes.

My canned red potatoes were delicious and safe. I didn't get sick. That is so neat. Can have home canned food. Of course they were store bought red potatoes but they were still good. Had them with homemade soup too. Yum yum so good.

"Unfort smelling green bean juice again. So I guess I am losing liquid aain in the raw pack green beans. DANG. The instruction booklet is poor for the American.... So I have underlined stuff in it. It says jigging 1 to 4 times per minute, NO WAY. if do so guage goes down past the 10 lb mark on the dial...... DUH>>>"

Yet another example of why it is often said here to never use your canner manual for directions for canning. Use it for cooking instructions only. Rather use the current existing directions found at NCHFP.

You are losing liquid from the jars not only because you are using raw pack but primarily because you are adjusting the heat while the processing is in progress. That should be avoided at all costs. Trying to get a weight to jiggle just right by playing around with the heat source will always cause liquid to siphon out of the jars. It is far better to allow higher pressure and more frequent jiggling than it is to adjust the heat setting once processing has begun.

With a bit of experimenting we can each determine where our heat should be set for uniform processing so no further adjusting is needed.

Dave

I just want to say this is a fantastic forum. The right mix of helpful knowledgable folks and curious neophytes like myself I guess.

It just works.