Just saw this - I don't worry about home canned stuff being held too long If the top centers "pop" up showing they have lost their seal, I toss them. If the color turns too dark to be appetizing I empty it out and dispose of it. Mostly I just can jam, jelly, tomatoes anymore since this soil is not good enough to grow a really big garden. When I grew everything we ate (except lettuce, celery, etc.) we usually finished off everything in a year. Now with fewer children at home to eat PB & J, we don't use as much jam. I can't help making more than we need though since I hate wasting anything and tend to toss all fruit that is starting to go soft into the freezer. Then I turn it into jam in the winter. I need to control my desire to preserve everything edible! I am a compulsive canner! LOL
I did start emptying out my jam and jelly cabinet and discovered some jams that had been there a while. I finally found a date on them and !!!
I had about 2 dozen jars of jams that were over 18 years old! I really need to clean out the jam cupboard more frequently apparently! I dumped them al but the apple butter did not seem to have changed color and the seal was intact. I don't remember the last time I went to the enormous effort of making apple butter, but it had to be about 10 years ago. It still smelled good so I tasted it and it tasted great. However, I went ahead and dumped it anyway. Then I opened the other jar and again it tasted great. I dumped it anyway. Then I realized that I might have poisoned myself by tasting 2 jars!
I watched myself for any symptoms of food poisoning, but I was fine so maybe I should have kept those old jars of apple butter.
I am very partial to apple butter!
As to store bought canned food I usually dispose of it a year or 2 after the expiration date as long as the can doesn't bulge. I did find some cans that were about 3 or 4 years old in the camper cupboards and tossed them. I felt very wasteful though. Probably part of my OCD canning compulsion to preserve food.
