HUGE can of San Marzano tomatoes PAST expiry date!!! AHHH! [moved from Home Cooking]
What should I do!? I just realized that the 'best before' date was March 22/2012. Two questions:
1. Are they still safe to eat, and how can I tell?
2. What am I going to make with it?
Help!
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maabso
Jul 23, 2012 11:27 AM
I finally opened the can. It was a disaster. The can sprayed all over my ceiling, walls, children and white furniture and to all of you who told me to open it, I will never forgive you. Ok just joking, it was FINE! I am going mostly by smell because I'm fasting for Ramadan and can't really taste it, but it is perfect. Thank you guys for your help! Off to make soup! Now to find a recipe...
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johnb
Jul 22, 2012 11:11 AM
I'm intrigued by the HUGE part. I seem to recall reading somewhere that all San Marzanos with a DOP are packed in 28 oz. cans, by the regulations governing the DOP or something. Is that not true? 28 oz. is the familiar standard "large" can size for supermarket tomatoes. I myself have never seen them in any can size but 28 oz.
If the above is true, and they are not in 28oz. cans, they may not be DOP San Marzanos, although that may not be such a big deal since some producers of the real thing apparently choose not to use the DOP. Anyway the "extra quality" of SM's has not always, shall we say, been apparent in blind tastings -- it's no doubt as much hype as reality.
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1POINT21GW
Jul 19, 2012 08:19 PM
In case you're interested, I used to buy nothing but the San Marzano tomatoes from Costco (Nina brand) because they were cheap and I thought that just because they were San Marzano tomatoes that they were automatically better than all the other tomatoes. Well, I read Cook's Illustrated's ratings of canned whole tomatoes and learned that I was wrong.
The second best canned whole tomatoes are Hunt's Whole Plum Tomatoes. They're cheap and you can find them at Wal-Mart. The number one rated canned whole tomatoes are Muir Glen Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes. They're 50% more expensive ("organic" marketing) than the Hunt's which is why I don't buy them.
All of the San Marzano canned whole tomatoes were rated "Recommended with Reservations".
Based on what I learned, I tried the Hunt's Whole Plum Tomatoes and they were markedly better than the San Marzano canned tomatoes from Costco. The canned tomatoes from Costco are good, but the Hunt's are quite a bit better.
So, you may want to consider trying the Hunt's Whole Plum Tomatoes.
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re: walker
Thanks for the reminder of T. Florence's tomato soup recipe! Have a bunch of newly harvested tomatoes (we're actually getting tired of sliced tomatoes already). Soup it is! P.S. Grew my own San Marzanos last year--must be a terroir thing, 'cause my home growns just weren't anything special.
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Bacardi1
Jul 19, 2012 02:44 PM
Oh for heaven's sake - they'll be just fine. In fact, if you had posted here saying they were "best before " March 22/2011 I'd STILL be telling you they were just fine. Canned goods have a MUCH longer shelf life than the government-required "best by" date on the can.
What are you going to make with it? What the heck did you buy them for? Surely you must have had a reason for buying them in the first place. Most folks use them to make terrific pasta sauce.
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re: Bacardi1
maabso
Jul 20, 2012 07:00 AM
The huge can was on sale for like 3.97 or something and I convinced myself that I would be able to make something out of it all. I just became a too intimidated to conquer the entire can! But I will probably open, and freeze portions like somebody mentioned.
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Berheenia
Jul 13, 2012 06:29 AM
I work in a Food Pantry and we would not worry about a March 2012 date on tomatoes. We have based this policy on info gathered from reliable sources such as the main Food Bank. The downside is that the flavor is not at it's peak. Is it a number 10 can?
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re: Berheenia
Very sensible response. I especially like the comment on flavor.
Instead of checking expiration date, checking food items with our nose and eyes might be a better approach. If expired and if the peak flavor is lost, wait a bit longer and, with the help of some microbes, umami might develop as decomposition takes place. Many delicacies we human enjoy eating now were discovered when someone ate certain "rotten" or "moldy" food a long time ago, yeah? .
Recently, a 7-episode Chinese TV program "A Bite of China" became a much-watched food show among Chiness both there (China) and here (U.S.). The videos are now on YouTube with English subtitles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRHNa9...If you watch it, at 00:07-00:09 you will see one such delicacy: tofu completely covered with long, white mold. I heard the hairy tofu is dearly loved by those who have eaten it. I tried to grow mold on my tofu by covering it with straw. However, the straw obviously did not contain spores (killed by fugicide in the field?) and the tofu became spoiled by other microbes and had to be thrown away.
Even with medicines, what does the expiration dates mean? Reduced efficacy, maybe. The tube of antibiotic gel prescribed to treat my son's staph aureus infection on his eyebrow when he was born is still being used by me when needed. It seems to work just fine. The expiration date came and went long, long time ago - 37 years ago. Isn't that wild?
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A great article from Eating Well on expiration dates......
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Father Kitchen
Jul 12, 2012 05:55 PM
Unless there is obvious swelling of the can, they are probably just fine. But if you see a large can approaching expiration date, open it and put the contents into quart bags and freeze them. We do that with homongous cans all the time.
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Jeebus.
I have heavy cream in the fridge that has been around longer than that date. And it's just fine.
The Tomatoes are fine too.
Ragu.
A Good marinara sauce.
Sunday gravy.
Sausage and peppers.
Stuffed peppers.
Swiss steak.
Pot roast.
No need to fret.
They are fine.›2 Replies -
THIS is something that bugs me. A "best if used by" date does NOT mean contents are BAD after that date!! How BIG of a can? Like restaurant size or normal big can for everyday family use? When it comes to stuff in cans, about the only thing I look for are dents or bulging (even slightly) tops/bottoms. Made mistake of trying to open one that was only SLIGHTLY bulging and contents spewed all over the place. Now an EXPIRATION or sell-by date... another story... that's what you'd find on meat/poultry/fish in the supermarket. When I'm buying dairy, I'll look for containers with day the farthest into the future. The date you see on a carton of milk... if your milk goe BAD in less than 5 days or so... I'd return it.
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re: kseiverd
maabso
Jul 11, 2012 01:26 PM
I bought it from Costco and it is big, definitely bigger than the ones that they sell in regular grocery stores. I don't know how I could have forgotten about it back there, but I'm glad you guys have reassured me! I'm usually really careful about this stuff because I feed my 1 year old and 2.5 year old almost everything I cook, so I like to make sure it is 100% safe.
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No. At midnight on March 22, 2012, the manufacturer remotely initiated, via an embedded chip, a chemical reaction that rendered those tomatoes so dangerous you really should dispose of them with a gloved hand and warn your neighbors of an impending explosion.
Kidding. I ate some yogurt that "expired" two weeks ago. It was fine. Make your sauce and enjoy it.
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re: Isolda
Roast them...after roasting they will store pretty much forever in a jar in the freezer, and you can just tweeze a few out for pizza toppings, pasta add-ins, or mix-ins for goat cheese spread, cream cheese spread, soups, sauces...wherever you want to add a roasty tomatoey flavor. Drain them well, (make yourself a bloody mary with the tomato juice you drain off), arrange cut side down on a sheet pan, , pour over some olive oil and sprinkle with a big pinch of salt and a small pinch of sugar...roast at about 375 for half an hour, turn them over, and roast for about 20 minutes more. When they have noticeably darkened in color and look a little leathery they're done. You can sprinkle them at the the end with some minced garlic or basil or oregano if you would like.
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re: Isolda
greygarious
Jul 11, 2012 10:55 AM
The tomatoes are absolutely safe. I would, and HAVE, staked my life on it. If a few YEARS have passed after expiry, there might be a bit of a metallic taste but still nothing dangerous. Toss any cans that bulge or that have rusty seams. I once "lost" an unopened yogurt in the back of the fridge for well over a year. It was fine and tasted like it was bought the previous day. As a friend said, sarcastically, "What's going to happen to yogurt - souring?"
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re: LindaWhit
LOL.
So do I.
Like any dairy product, by its nature, it will let you know visually and odiferously that it has turned. :-)
In the summer I buy whole milk vs. 2% or 1% as the milk fat levels keeps teh shelf life of teh whole milk good far longer if you have heat flucuations in your kitchem which affect your fridge at all.
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Best before dates are to protect the manufacturer.
If you use it after that date they're not responsible for whats inside.
Open the can, if they smell and look ok you can use them but I would
only use them in cooking. Heat them up in a separate pot and check them again
(taste once heated to a healthy simmer). If they taste ok them add them to whatever your
making and enjoy. Dont add till you test the taste just to make sure you don't spoil a
large batch of something. -
Canned tomatoes will be fine for years. Don't sweat the date, it's completely arbitrary on an item like this.
Feature them in a basic tomato sauce; In olive oil, saute some sliced garlic and a little crushed red pepper, add tomatoes, bring to a simmer, toss in some fresh basil, serve over pasta, top with good italian Parmesean.
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