Found out yesterday that baking powder expires way faster than I thought

I was cleaning out my pantry and noticed a can of baking powder from like 2021. Figured it was fine, baking powder is just powder right? But then I looked it up and apparently it loses its oomph after about 6 months. I've been using old baking powder in my scones for the last year and they've been coming out flat and dense. No wonder. Has anyone else had a baking fail because of old ingredients?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantf732d agoMost Upvoted

Wait I just read something about this the other day, how baking powder actually starts reacting with moisture in the air as soon as you open it, so it slowly becomes useless even if you keep the lid tight. I always thought it was one of those things that lasts forever like salt or something. But yeah my grandmother used to make these amazing biscuits that were like little rocks and I bet it was from old baking powder. Now I just keep a marker in the pantry and write the date on the can when I buy it because I got tired of flat pancakes every weekend.

jackson.matthew2d ago

Oh man, the marker trick is genius. I started doing that with all my spices too after I ruined a batch of cornbread with baking powder that was probably older than my car. Now I just toss anything that's been open more than six months, hurts less than biting into a hockey puck of a muffin.

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