If you are like most people, you have one cabinet or drawer in your kitchen that is filled mostly with old jars of spices. It’s common to buy a particular spice for a special recipe, then store it in that cabinet until you need it again.

The problem is that you may never use that particular spice again. And when you keep buying new spices and dried herbs, that cabinet can very quickly get filled up.

Kitchen Remodels West Palm Beach — Spice Expiration Dates

Even if you were to go back and find that spice or herb and use it, odds are it’s not going to taste the same as when you used it when it was brand new.

That’s because dried spices and herbs lose their potency over time. Within a year, most spices have lost a majority of their original flavor.

And keep in mind that the clock starts ticking when the spice is originally manufactured, not when you buy it at your local grocery store. How long have the spices and herbs been sitting on the store’s shelf?

Kitchen Remodels West Palm Beach — Making More Room

In many kitchens, at least half of the dried spices and herbs are already out of date and are simply taking up space. You can instantly give yourself more room and reduce clutter by simply tossing any spice or herb you haven’t used in the past year.

Once your spice cabinet is cleaned out, don’t fill it up again with outdated, stale spices and herbs. Whenever you buy a new flavoring ingredient, use a marker to write the date of purchase on the label. That way you can tell how old the spice or dried herb is and throw it away if it has been sitting around too long taking up valuable space in your cabinet.