[Sca-cooks] Shelf life of frozen ground nuts?

[Stefan li Rous]

Dragon said:
<<< The best way to tell is to simply defrost a sample and try it. If it
tastes good, it's fine (no problem with it spoiling in the freezer).

It may have developed on off flavor though, so be certain it hasn't
before you use it. Nothing like funky freezer smell ruining things. >>>

I'm not sure if just tasting the almond powder will tell you whether  
it is still good enough to make almond milk or not. Tasting it will  
tell you whether it has gone rancid or has picked up extraneous,  
unwanted smells, whether freezer or otherwise.

However, even if it tastes okay, it still may not make good almond  
milk. This may depend upon just how air tight the container is, but  
it is my impression that the oils in the almonds make a substantial  
contribution to the result when making almond milk. As with storing  
spices, those volatile oils may or may not still be present in this  
almond powder.

However, if you have a jar or can of ground almonds, I wouldn't want  
to just throw them out without checking more carefully. That's a lot  
of almonds to waste. I would take a small portion and make some  
almond milk and see how *that* tastes and feels.  Is it thin? Does it  
taste right?

You might also want to compare how moist the almond powder at the  
bottom of the container is compared to the top. Some of the oil may  
have simply leaked downward to the bottom, so the bottom may be good,  
while the top portion is too dry to make good almond milk.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****