I avoid bulk bins. Especially nuts. Though walnuts can smell a bit off even when semi fresh. Roasting them can sometimes fix that but not if really off and rancid. I prefer to freeze nuts in small packages.

If i over-purchase dry goods i like to get them in the freezer asap, double wrapped for flours and powders. And bring to room temp before opening to use...opening anything right from the freezer forms condensation inside/outside the bag/container and moisture is the enemy. Especially powders like tomato.

I did over-purchase some flours during a baking spree but now work has put that on hold for a while. Along with a very hot beginning of Fall. All is in the freezer, probably misc 10lbs. All will be used when the weather cools. Not the best storage solution and why i've started to grind my own flours.

I'm not sure you can do anything with rancid nuts, the flavor is just too "off", but as sleevendog says, sometimes if they aren't too bad you can toast them and the flavor is less noticeable. Maybe you could make spiced nuts and the flavors would be strong enough, but you would probably just be throwing good ingredients after bad.

Old flour. Hmm. You could make glue. Or Play Doh. (grin) If it's been in the freezer, though, and doesn't smell or taste off, it's still fine to use, although it may have lost some flavor.

Annie

Whether you can mask the flavor or not, I'd never use rancid nuts, or potentially rancid whole wheat flour. Do a little research about rancid fats; they are bad for you and your health! Here is one article I found quickly, but there are many others from varied sources:

rancid fat dangers

Hi - I would try the flour w/o the nuts to be sure of the source of any 'off' flavours, since flour can be frozen almost indefinitely & should, theoretically, be fine. But if it did pick up any freezer flavour, you could use it in something highly spiced to counteract that.

& I would keep the nuts w/ the receipt until the next time I was going to that store & return them - I hate wasting money on bad food & would rather get something else. IOW, it's worth the bit of extra effort to me. IMPE, most stores are happy to exchange spoiled food items & it's a no-fuss experience. Our Publix stores here have even give me a new, unspoiled replacement for free.

That said, you could certainly compost either or both, as is.

& FWIW, I like to use foil or glass jars for freezing items like butter, flours/grains/nuts, since they provide a better barrier to smells than plastic.

Like Linda, I would feed it to the birds, even if they do poop on my fountain:

Even birds tend to not go for rancid nuts, depending on how bad they are. Not sure if the squirrels will be that picky!

Yeah....you know you've had it around too long when even the sparrows won't eat it.....LOL!

Here are the lessons to be learned....

-Fresh is best. ;-)

-When possible, mill your own flour. Most whole grains store very well for extremely long periods of time (wheat will store well for decades), but once the bran (the protective coat) is removed or cracked (from milling), the germ oil is exposed to oxygen, which is when the oil begins to go rancid.

-Rancid oils don't have to smell rancid to be rancid. If it gets to the point where they smell rancid, they have been so for a very long time.

-I purchase the bulk of the nuts I have on hand just after the holidays when new-crop nuts go on sale for at least 50% off. I might need to supplement that with bags of nuts I purchase from Sam's Club (who have a large turnover of the product and good prices), but I generally avoid nuts from bulk bins.

-I process all nuts (as well as raw pepitas and other seeds) by soaking them overnight in lightly-salted water (which activates the enzymes), a method you can read more about in "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon with Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. Then I dehydrate them until they are crispy dry. This not only makes them easier to digest and increases the available nutrients, they also keep longer. I store the "crispy nuts" in canning jars in the food storage room of the basement (dark and cool storage conditions). The only exception are walnuts, which I freeze after they are soaked/dehydrated. Walnuts contain large amounts of triple unsaturated linolenic acid and are more susceptible to rancidity.

-Freezing will only slow down the oils in whole wheat flour and nuts from going rancid, not prevent it. Whole wheat flour begins to degrade within 3-hours of milling it. Add to that the time it was warehoused, trucked, warehoused again, then it sat on the store shelves --- you have little left of any of the nutrients, which is why we tend to choose whole grain flours. If you purchase commercial whole wheat flour, at best you are only getting a little more fiber since the nutrients begin to degrade quickly.

-The enemies of all foods are oxygen, light, heat, moisture, and insect infestation. Foods that can be stored in an oxygen-free environment (vacuum-sealed with a FoodSaver) will last longer.

-If you decide to vacuum-seal flour, it should be in a canister or jar where it is free-flowing, not in tightly-sealed plastic bags. There is enough moisture in flour that if tightly-sealed in a plastic bag, it can start to smell and taste moldy. Under the right conditions, that mold can also be a harmful, or even deadly, aflatoxin. I would destroy all rancid foods, not try to feed it to anything.

-Before going gluten-free I would mill my own whole wheat flour, and now I mill my gluten-free flours. If I have any freshly-milled flour left from that baking day I freeze it, but I also use it within the week after being frozen. It just degrades too fast - even in the freezer.

-Grainlady

Thanks everyone. I actually did think of feeding the nuts to the birds, but I was wary it might hurt them. I know that moldy bread is bad for birds, so I was concerned that rancid nuts might be also. Don't know for sure. Mixing the nuts with flour and baking them into a brittle for the birds sounds intriguing.

Grainlady, I would love to get a flour mill and start milling my own flour, but at this time I just don't know where I'd put one, or the bags of grains to mill. I really do want to try it, though, as I'm sure it would taste so good, much better than store bought flour.

As a side note, my son picked up some bread from the store that was called "Wheat Berry" bread. I was quite amused.

Sally

I think birds know....and I am sure squirrels eat more than their share of rancid nuts. I am sure that those walnuts they are digging out of my garden in late March from the stash they buried in October must be rancid. And I use to put bread that had started to mold out for the birds....but they wouldn't eat it.

Interesting about using flour for bird suet balls. Or old nuts. I make a winter mix instead of buying the packaged.. Did not think that flour would be good for them. Learn something new every day.

I have some elder end of bag flaked grains like flax that i should toss. I buy mostly whole grain/seeds now. And buy as fresh as possible.

I would probably return the nuts even if a few weeks away from a return to the store. Walnuts are so oily and smell odd to me even fresh. I like earthy but they tend to cook weird...never cared much for them but i bet my mother kept them too long (and used them often)....probably a bit rancid.

Canned cream corn and walnut bread are childhood dis-likes.

The recipe says that after toasting the walnuts, to rub the skins off, to remove the bitterness. This author is VERY meticulous in her recipes.

I had Some Walnut Oatmeal bread that I purchased at a farmer's market that was delicious. I'd love to figure out how to make that. In the meantime, I'm trying the wheat version again today.

I just taste compared the walnuts I purchased at Winco compared with the ones I bought at Central Market, which were labeled white walnuts. The Winco ones still tasted rancid, just a bit. Oh well. I'll give them to the birds and see if they eat them.

Sally