h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm thinking that if you had enough milk left after the 'sell-by' date that it's taken this long for it to finally die (as opposed to being entirely consumed), that perhaps you should be buying milk in smaller quantities.

When I was single I only ever bought it a quart at a time, and then only if I needed it for something specific.

From which dairy did this milk carton come? I'll recommend it to my mother if it's available here. (And I'll have a small sample sent to the lab to determine from what creature's teat it originated.)

It was Wild Oats organic whole milk.

Well, it's happened again.

Last Christmas (ie, six months ago) I bought two one-pint (16 fl oz) cartons of double (heavy whipping) cream (am I the only person who thinks there are too many parentheses in this sentence?).

Any (road) up. I only used one of them during Christmas - I had it with my Christmas pudding*. The other one stayed in the fridge... waiting.

*Television wavy line effect and harp glissandos to illustrate the passing of time*

Several weeks ago I made some paneer, as most of you know, and I decided to make saag paneer with it. The recipe I decided to use included a small amount of cream as a ingredient. Well I knew I had this carton from last December in the fridge, and I know that these (organic) dairy products have a reputation for being indestructible, so I opened it.

You know what's coming, don't you. Despite having a use-by date of January 7th (6 months almost to the day) it smelled and tasted as fresh as if I'd just plucked it off the shelf. I used it in my saag paneer and I didn't die. Result So I made another batch of paneer last week and another batch of saag paneer. The cream, which by now had been open a dew weeks was still okay.

Yesterday, I decided to make a baked custard tart - something I've never made before - with the remaining cream. It actually ended up being a quiche into which I tipped a bunch of leftovers from the fridge - frozen spinach, frozen broccoli, roast chicken and half a tin of corn niblets, with a few tomato slices on top just like those egg and bacon pies we had at school which were essentially a quiche but we didn't call it that.

Regardless, it was delicious, but I've used up the last of the indestructible cream, all bar a few ounces in the bottom of the carton. Which I'm very tempted to leave in the fridge just to see when (or if?) it actually doth goeth off.

*I had enough mixture for two puddings. I boiled each of them for the required 6-hour pre-boil but I only finished and ate one of them during the festive season. The other one has been sitting in the pantry since then, either maturing or turning into a new lifeform We'll find out soon when I pull it out for a little bit of Christmas in July. Be afraid. Be very afraid

You can ignore the use by dates on cream. It always lasts longer than they say. It is probably due to the high fat content. Another product I buy that lasts way beyond the date is the unsweetened almond milk. I don't know if it ever spoils.

Thing is, Hyp, it never used to be this way. Milk and cream always used to go off within a week or two, much less once opened. That's why I'm so surprised. While they're unopened I can perhaps put it down to cartons being sealed far better then they once were, and certainly better than milk bottles, so there's less chance for spoilage there.

Is your refrigerator colder than it used to be? But I do understand. Sometimes weird things happen. Here there is one brand of milk that lasts longer than the other brands. Makes me wonder what the difference in the processing procedure is.

Or perhaps you have a dairy fairy!

It's possible that modern fridges keep food colder, and more consistently so, than older ones did. I try to keep mine at around 3°-4°C. I have a sense that food from the fridge these days feels colder than it used to when I take something out, but it's unlikely that I'm accurately remembering how cold food from the fridge felt 30 or 40 years ago.

While these are indeed amazing relults, and I must admit, I haven't personally experienced, either by smell or taste, spoiled milk products in decades, the mere thought and distant memory of doing so does make me wince.

Now part of the reason I haven't smelled or tasted spoiled milk in so long is that I almost never drink the stuff, or use it in cooking. The last few times I have has been the very rare instance of having a craving for chocolate milk. The last time I bought a carton was when I was living in Houston and that was .... 16 years ago?

Still...

I'm beginning to think I should have hung on to it, unopened, a bit longer. Then I could have had it with my Christmas pudding next month (as long as it's still a Christmas pudding and not a ), and they'd both be the same vintage

A breakthrough!

Milk in cartons made of paper goeth not off. Milk in plastic cartons goeth off. A sign from Almighty Bob that plastic displeaseth Him.

What about milk in plastic bags, or is that a purely Canadian phenomenon?

TRiG.

I think they do that in Germany too. It cuts down on waste.

I reckon that milk would goeth off, too - a plastic bag is really just a plastic bottle with a touch of brewer's droop, after all.