We try to not can more than we can eat in a year. After all, we'll get fresh stuff a year from now (if the gardening goddess is cooperative :-)

Most extension services recommend 1 year, sometimes up to 2 years. Examine the product, and if it has changed color or texture, you may want to ditch it. Odds are it would still be safe, but may not taste very good. Obviously, if the lid isn't sealed or stuff is leaking out, you'd toss that into the trash.

I just opened the last jar of orange marmalade from 2006. It still tastes fine, but it has darkened considerably compared to the stuff I made this January.

Here is a link that might be useful: Prudent Food Storage

NCHFP offers the link below (it's pdf format). Just scroll down to the chart of foods.

I agree with the above 1 year as a general rule although we do have some foods that carry over into the second year - mostly they are high acid, pickled, jam things so safer for longer storage. Older than that will almost always get tossed into the compost.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Safe Home Food Storage

There's no safety issue, especially with home-canned foods in glass (as opposed to commercial cans).

In other words, if a food is safely processed following current guidelines and the seal remains good, you could consume it 10 or 20 years down the road with no risk. Canned foods retrieved from Civil War shipwrecks still had no significant bacterial load.

What does become an issue is quality. Flavors fade. Textures soften. Colors brown. When it's no longer appealing for any of these reasons, toss it.

But I would definitely not toss good food merely because it had passed some arbitrary expiration date.

One issue not mentioned that is key to longevity is conditions of storage. Foods stored at consistently moderate temperatures with minimal exposure to light will have a much longer shelf life.

Carol

I almost go by the 1 year rule generally. Although, I have from last year a few jam and jelly, one roasted red pepper relish and 4 quarts of peaches.
They all look as good as the current canned items, but I will use up soon, within 18 months.
My pantries where I keep my canned goods are only opened to check for spoilage or to use.
If I do toss some canned items, on our hill, we use the circle of life food chain, old canned goods go to the pigs. Makes for tastier chops this winter.

I'm with Carol. Safety is not an issue. If you can afford the luxury of waste, toss it. I can't, or won't. Many things - specialty stuff that we use little of -- we only do every three or four years, and the flavor and quality are fine. They're still a lot better flavor-wise and nutritionally than grocery store stuff. One exception is curds-lemon and orange, etc. The shelf life on those is supposedly 6-12 months.

Whatever did manufacturers do before marketing people came up with expiration dates so we'd all throw stuff away?