6 hours Ago By Xanthe Clay
It’s time to clear out the back of the spice rack – here’s how to store and prolong the life of your jars. Roll up your sleeves for Stir-up Sunday. But as you rummage the spice rack for nutmeg and cinnamon, plus good old mixed spice, is this the first time you’ve used them since last year? Or when you’re reaching for the thyme to get ahead with the turkey stuffing, is it the same one you’ve had since New Labour was actually new? You’re not alone.
I’ve got a jar of “rubbed sage” that dates back to the Pyramids, or at least to a time before best-before dates. My editor tells me that Christmas comes but once a year, and that’s how often the ground cloves get an airing for the ritual half teaspoon in the pudding. Rachel Walker, of online retailer Rooted Spices, knows well how vintage spices tend to lurk in our cupboards .
When her brand of high-end spices launched in 2018, Walker ran a competition to find the oldest jar. “The winner was 1971 and it was a tin of cloves. We had pictures of spices manufactured in West Germany” so before reunification in 1989.
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