'Best before' dates...........

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'Best before' dates...........

Postby wilder » Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:21 am

Hi everyone,

I have some sausage skins which I have been keeping in the fridge. However, they are fast approaching their 'best before' date, and we will not be slaughtering our next pigs for another couple of months. Can I put the skins in the freezer to prolong their life?

I also have some salami cure that I have the same problem with. Is there anything I can do to prolong its life? What would happen to it after it passes the BB date?

I really don't want to have to buy any more supplies because the same thing will happen to the next lot I buy - we simply don't make enough sausages / salami / ham / bacon to use up all the skins and cures, which always seem to be sold in packages too large for us.

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Chris
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Postby wheels » Sat Sep 01, 2012 4:01 pm

Hi Chris

You don't say how long they've been in the fridge? I've some in salt in the fridge that must be a year old at least.

Phil
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Postby wilder » Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:17 pm

They are in salt, and have been in the fridge since March, but they have a 'best before' date of September 2012.

I did wonder if the salt would keep them almost indefinitely (and certainly for another couple of months), and whether the BB date was put on mainly to comply with 'the rules'. However, I don't want to risk spoiling my sausages or poisoning anyone, and I thought I'd enquire whether other people had used theirs past their best before date, or had found a way of prolonging their 'life'.

Do your skins have a BB date on them, phil?
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Postby DanMcG » Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:45 pm

I've never seen a date on any casing's I've bought . As long as they are well packed in salt they will last a very long time in the frig
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Postby wheels » Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:20 pm

I did wonder if the salt would keep them almost indefinitely (and certainly for another couple of months), and whether the BB date was put on mainly to comply with 'the rules'. However, I don't want to risk spoiling my sausages or poisoning anyone, and I thought I'd enquire whether other people had used theirs past their best before date, or had found a way of prolonging their 'life'.

Do your skins have a BB date on them, phil?


To be honest, I don't know.

I know when I've soaked casings, then not used them, and then re-salted them, if they go a dark colour, I chuck them.

I've got some <20mm sheep's casings that I bought for cocktail sausages that must be at least 18 months old. I'd happily use them. But, if they smelt awful or tasted lousy, I'd ditch the batch and start again.

As they say here: "I'd suck it and see..."

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Postby vagreys » Sun Sep 02, 2012 5:33 am

I can tell you that freezing natural casings would be a mistake, likely to weaken the casings and cause blowouts when you use them. "Best before" does not mean "bad after". If they are sufficiently salted and kept refrigerated, they should last just fine for another couple of months and well-beyond.
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Postby BriCan » Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:22 am

Never had Best Before dates on any casings that I buy, the casings/beef caps that Tom and I used two nights ago was/are from close to a year old plus they had been soaking in water for over two weeks

Casings stored properly in salt will keep a very long time, I have had some close to five years and used with no problems
But what do I know
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Postby corromant » Sun Sep 02, 2012 6:44 pm

Don’t confuse “best before” with “use by”.


I have always taken a “best before” date to mean exactly that, it is best before the stated date but can still be used after (more a guarantee of quality).

If it is a use by date then you should use the product by that date, as its safety cannot be guaranteed after the date.


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Postby wilder » Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:39 am

Brilliant! Thank you all for your replies. I agree with the comments about 'best before' and have always taken it to mean exactly that, but wanted to check to see how others felt. My skins will stay in the fridge until I need to use them!

Any thoughts on the various cures? I assume they, too, will be OK to use? I am a bit worried that they may lose their efficiency, but I don;t really see how they could...... they are, after all, basically nitrates and salts.

Chris
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Postby Kaiser Soze » Thu Sep 06, 2012 5:25 am

I asked a similar question a little while ago wilder:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=9874

and was pointed to here:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=8905&highlight=grisell

Have a read, but the basic premise is that as we don't know how much nitrite has oxidised to nitrate, it can't be trusted as either a cure #1 or cure #2, but it can be used for curing whole muscles or cooked sausages.
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Postby wilder » Tue Sep 11, 2012 12:45 pm

Thanks, Kaiser. As my cures were only purchased at the beginning of this year, I think they should be OK, but I will look at them carefully before I decide to use them.

Chris
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Postby Oddwookiee » Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:33 pm

On casings:

If any of my casings freeze, they get tossed into the bone can, they're garbage as far as I'm concerned. I gave a few hanks to a friend because he wanted to try & salvage them and said they were weak and blew out in a number of places. It's up to you, but freezing will make it harder for a rope sausage. In links.....eh, it's your call but I won't waste my time on something that blows out every 4 or 5 links.

As for age, I bought a 55 gallon drum of casings packaged in 1-hank bags immersed in salt brine from a shop that closed down. He said he'd been using the casings for 4 or 5 years and it took me another 2 or 3 years to work through them all. Kept under refrigeration (35F) and salted, I don't see why they'd have any sort of expiration date at all.
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