Smell it! If it smells okay, use it for cooking but maybe not for raw uses where taste matters a lot.

I would taste it....I can spot even slightly rancid 10 miles away. If it's even slightly off I wouldn't use it for cooking or anything else.
But, if it has been in a cool spot and in a can or a dark bottle, it should be fine.
I always keep my supply of olive oil refrigerated, just keep a half a cup or so on the counter to use, then warm up thes tuff in the refrig and refill my sprinkle bottle.
Linda C

I agree to taste it. If it's stale, don't use it. It will taint the taste of everything you use it in, raw or cooked. But if it tastes good, it's fine!

Good idea about storing olive oil in the fridge. Other oils too?

Rarely used oils like sesame or walnut, but now corn oil or sesame,,,:-D
I buy olive oil by the half gallon...lasts pretty well a whole year. So I need to store the excess carefully.
Linda C

Thanks for your responses. I'll open it and check it out. Linda, thanks for the tip on keeping oils in the fridge. I'll start doing that.

It's not an expiration date, it's a "Best if used by" date. I'm sure that if it's never been opened and has been stored in a cool dark cabinet, it is fine.

sushipup, your right, it is the 'best used by' date. It has never been opened......until now, and it smells & tastes fine to me so I'll use it for my stir fry tonight. Thanks everyone. Then in the fridge it will go! :)

I'm too late, but I agree, the oil should be fine if unopened. I'd not hesitate to use it, if it doesn't smell or taste rancid.

Annie

Sorry about the "good if unopened" theory. I very recently tossed a rather expensive gift bottle of olive oil, never opened, came directly to me from the store.....and was rancid.
Even if unopened oil exposed to heat and light can easily become rancid. I know I have a real nose for "rancid" so I had my daughter taste it before I tossed it....she agreed....rancid.
Oh....and it was well within the "use by" date.

Ok, ignorant question alert!

Can someone describe what rancid tastes or smells like? I think I might know but I'm not sure: A couple days ago I grabbed a bottle of grapeseed oil that has been open and in my pantry for about a year. Should grapeseed oil have a pronounced odor? If not, I'm thinking rancid might smell somewhere in between nuts and wood? I've smelled that smell before in other oils and always tossed them but haven't been entirely sure.

The problem is, I never take notice of the smell of oil until I'm questioning whether it's too old, LOL! As for olive oil, I know what I buy and what it should taste like, so that one I'd never have to question.

I agree, LindaC. Something "should" be good according to the date or if unopened, but nothing will take the place of taste or smell.

FOAS, I think it's kind of like the Supreme Court's description of pornography: "I can't define it, but I know it when I see (or smell/taste) it." (grin) Actually, the best description I can think of is that it just tastes stale, or old.

Annie

Yes, it's the "should" in my statement that covers the carp that sometimes happens. Remember that testing on EVOO, and some brand new samples from stores were rancid, or on their way to becoming so.

FOAS thanks for asking the question. I too am not sure I would be able to discern old or rancid oil. I remember a discussion recently about Americans eating something rancid (was it oil?) that other countries wouldn't because we have become used to it in fast food. Was that on this forum or did I read it somewhere else?
Anyway, I don't have a very sensitive nose so I'm not sure I can tell. It seems like something you would just know; but I don't.

If it tastes fine to you, go ahead and eat it. I have heard that rancid oils can inhibit your absorbtion of some nutrient, but forget what.
I have been served rancid crackers that no one seems to think are awful, certainly rancid nuts and muffins made from rancid mixes, pies with crusts that must have spent 2 years in the freezer and gotten rancid.....and I seemed to be the only one turning up my nose.
So if it tastes good to you, go ahead and eat it....but I have learned from experience to taste an oil of it's been around for a while, before I mix it with other ingredients. No need to spoil a whole batch of stuff.
What does rancid taste like? Ever find 3 Ritz crackers in the bottom of a cracker tin that had likely been there since the flood?
That's what rancid tastes like!
Linda C

Boy, how to describe what something smells or tastes like - hard to do. I would say it's sort of sour, but sort of like motor oil, and stale, but what does stale smell like? Yes, it's hard to describe, but like Annie, I know it when I smell it.

It's funny, though, because I'm one of those that never thought about oils being rancid until I started learning more about cooking, and I guess taught my nose and palate to smell and taste the rancidity. I'm sure I most likely grew up being fed rancid oil, but then, I also grew up being fed oleo-margarine. lol

Sally

FOAS, leave some butter out on the counter for a long time, how long depends on the temperature. Eventually, in days or weeks, it will smell bad. That's the smell you're asking about.
Rancid fats get their offensive smell and taste from a single compound, butyric acid. I'm wondering if it's possible that some people can't smell it. Or maybe you have led a life completely sheltered from rancid fat.
At one of my first meals with my in-laws, they had rancid butter on the table. My MIL described it as"just a little bit cheesy." So some people have at least a different sense of it from most of us!

Hmmm, after reading these comments I'm now wondering if I would even would know the taste of rancid oil! I can usually detect if something is "not right", but then again, I don't really know what the oil would taste like if it was not good. My stir-fry was good and didn't make me sick (would bad oil make you sick?) so I can only assume it wasn't bad. Another lesson I've learned from this thread is to taste & smell freshly opened oil in case it is not good.....and hopefuly I would know the difference! lol! Thanks everyone. I have had butter that had an 'off' taste and threw it out.

I used to keep olive oil in the frig but then it solidifies and became too much trouble to use. I like the idea of keeping out a bit in a squirter for use and fridging the rest. I do buy small bottles now, but I use it sparingly. I just like canola better, neutral. I use oo so I feel like a fancier cook, lol!

This is an interesting thread and I am learning a lot. I've heard that Hershey candy is a little "off", he made it that way to distinguish it from other chocolates.

I know what stale tastes like; I guess I'll just try to train myself to recognize rancid.

Posted by annie1992 "-----FOAS, I think it's kind of like the Supreme Court's description of pornography: "I can't define it, but I know it when I see (or smell/taste) it." (grin) Actually, the best description I can think of is that it just tastes stale, or old. Annie"

The best explaination of rancid taste. :-)

BTW, not all rancid tastes are bad. Cheese flavor is just rancid milk fat.

dcarch

Dear Friends,

i have 50 liters of olive oil with me 5*10 liters unfortunately we have kept those sealed cans in the stores and not used since 3 years now my new chef indented olive so i have checked in stores then i found that has been expired 2 years back.

can i use it for cooking? or should i throw it out? please help me to save some money in this regards

The only way you will know is to open a can and taste it. Chances are that it is still good if it was stored away from heat.

Yes, just open and smell!