Ask Dr. Eljay...

[gnomi]

A sealed (never opened) bottle of store-bought fresh-squeezed orange juice that has been sitting in the fridge for a couple of months... still drinkable? Anyone know?

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I would.

It may be slightly alcoholic. Or, it may be slightly discolored/brown. It's probably still good to drink in either case.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

It's still the same color it was when I bought it. I'll probably give it a taste-test.

[eroticjames.livejournal.com]

Not the doctor, but I live by the "when in doubt, throw it out motto." And this is a house where we live by the pick it up and dust it off rule.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, I have a "five-second" rule. I'm probably going to taste-test it.

[baiacou.livejournal.com]

There should be an expiration date on it. If there's not, buh-bye!

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Alas, it's at home and I'm at work (and going to the grocery store before home, so I can't check it). But it has, I think, a "best before" date, which really doesn't tell me anything.

[moneypenny.livejournal.com]

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Heh.

[squashed.livejournal.com]

Does it not have a best before date on it?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

It does, though that doesn't really tell me much. And since it's at home and I'm at work (and I'm hitting the grocery store before I go home), I'm kind of flying blind here.

[lucretia-borgia.livejournal.com]

I'm betting it's probably ok. Let your nose lead, then let your tongue be the judge.

Thank G-d for camp, playgroup, and naptime! I'm free (for a few more minutes, anyhow)!

I should get a job. (For those moments when I'm not dealing with children. I can't afford a f/t job til all the kids are in school.)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

OK. I'll do a smell-and-taste test, see what I think, before using it in the froot soop.

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

i wouldn't trust it. i'd say go ahead and buy more on the way home. if you decide to try the old stuff and it seems good...well, it's very hard these days to drink "too much" OJ so you shouldn't have a problem polishing off both.

but me, if it was months as you say, i wouldn't trust it. that "best buy" date takes into account that it's bottled not cartoned.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was April, I believe. We're not big OJ drinkers, and I bought it for a recipe I decided not to make in the end.

I can always buy another one, I guess, and find fridge space if the old one's still good.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

If it's got a pop-top and the pop-top is unpopped, you're probably fine. If it doesn't have a pop-top, well, it's pretty acidic, so it probably won't kill you to drink it, but I would expect it to be pretty funky.

I'd get some at the store.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Screw top with aluminum foil/plastic seal over the spout.

I'll buy a small thing, maybe, and taste the one currently in the fridge.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

yeah, that doesn't say "pasteurized" to me, and so I would think that whatever can live in OJ probably is living in the OJ. But the sniff/taste test is good.

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

OJ's nice and easy - if it tastes off or fizzy, it's off - it it doesn't, you're good. (IME, anyway.)

[neverbeen2spain.livejournal.com]

That was gonna be what I said! But I was gonna say it much later. :)

[cellio]

I would think that would be ok, but would sniff and taste a drop first. And the answer might be different for cooking and drinking straight.

I realize this is academic now.

[magid.livejournal.com]

So, how did it turn out?