Storage & Buying

How Long Spices Keep, and How to Tell When Yours Are Done

Published guidance gives ground spices two to four years of good flavor and whole spices three to four, and a jar opened daily beside the stove falls short of both. Nothing on the jar records when yours started, and a faded spice looks exactly like a fresh one. These four guides cover shelf life by form, how to store it, how to tell a tired jar from a spoiled one, and which spices repay buying whole.