10 products that can be stored for a lifetime
Many of us have a special pantry at home where we store food that we are not going to eat in the near future. But if you store a fairly large amount of edibles, it becomes quite difficult to monitor their expiration date and constantly replace spoiled products.
Fortunately, the foods listed in this article will never cause you such problems. Of course, provided that you follow all the rules of their storage. The best way to preserve any of these products is to keep them in an airtight package in a dry, dark and cool place. And then they will be suitable for food for many years, perhaps even centuries and millennia, and will retain their nutritional properties in an almost unchanged state. We have selected ten products that can be stored almost forever.
Honey, still edible even after thousands of years, is found in ancient Egyptian tombs. It can be stored indefinitely due to the fact that it contains antibacterial substances. In addition, honey practically does not contain water in its composition, which makes it an unsuitable habitat for microorganisms. Over time, if the honey is not pasteurized and not raw, it may change color and crystallize, but it will still remain a food-safe product.
Sugar can be stored indefinitely, it does not matter whether it is white (refined) or brown (with an admixture of condensed vegetable juice). However, this product is sensitive to moisture. By absorbing it, sugar can easily crystallize into one large piece, which will have to be broken with a hammer. Just make sure to store it in an airtight container to prevent moisture from entering.
A bag of rice may be covered with age-old dust, but the grains inside it will forever retain their nutritional properties. However, this statement applies only to white rice. The shelf life of brown rice is severely limited due to its oil-containing shell.
You will never find expired salts, since technically it is not even a food product, but a mineral. Like sugar, salt tends to absorb moisture and is able to turn into a solid block, but it absolutely does not lose its useful properties. It is extremely important to have a stock of this product at home, since salt is used not only as a spice, but also in the canning of other food products, in medicine and even in the production of soap.
Starch is usually used as a thickener for food products — sauces and puddings. It is also used in many other branches of the food industry. But the benefits of corn starch can also be traced in medicine. It is an important ingredient in the production of powders, ointments, powders and potions. To preserve starch forever, make sure you keep it in an airtight container in a dry and cool place.
The shelf life of alcoholic beverages such as rum, vodka or whiskey will never expire. As long as the alcohol is stored in a dark, cool place and the lid is tightly screwed, there is no point in rushing to finish the bottle. However, under the influence of high temperatures, air or bright light, the taste qualities of alcohol can suffer greatly.
Vinegar is another product that will remain usable forever, and over the years its beneficial properties will only get better. In addition to being used as a salad dressing or in canning vegetables, vinegar has many household uses and is easy to make at home.
Soy sauce contains an extremely large amount of salt, which prevents the growth of bacteria in it, so that it does not need preservatives even with long-term storage. Although soy sauce is difficult to spoil, it belongs to the kind of products that taste better while fresh.
A broth cube is a compressed concentrated vegetable or meat broth, dehydrated during cooking. The high content of table salt and sodium glutamate allows you to store broth cubes indefinitely. However, this product is very sensitive to storage conditions and does not tolerate high humidity.
Ghee is produced by melting butter and filtering out milk protein and milk sugar from the mixture. Then the remaining butter fat is heated in vacuum boilers to evaporate the water. The fat dehydrated in this way does not need a refrigerator and can be stored forever, provided that you keep it in an airtight package. Ghee is an excellent substitute for regular butter, as it contains a large amount of fat-soluble vitamins. For example, vitamin A, vitamin E and vitamin D.