Do dried peppercorns go off?

[JonRB]

Genuine question; do dried whole black peppercorns really go off? I just went to fill up my pepper mill and noticed that the jar of peppercorns I have says "best before Oct 2009". What, really? Should I bin them or use them?

[sherman]

They wont go off as such just loose their intensity of flavour.

[grumbledoak]

Just use more of them them; they won't last forever but drying things is a form of preservation.

Edited by grumbledoak on Sunday 23 January 22:08

[silvagod]

sherman said:

They wont go off as such just loose their intensity of flavour.

Ergo, they should be more flavourful (or did you mean lose?)

[sherman]

silvagod said:

sherman said:

They wont go off as such just loose their intensity of flavour.

Ergo, they should be more flavourful (or did you mean lose?)

Er yeah that

Edited by sherman on Sunday 23 January 22:34

[Mobile Chicane]

No chance.

Whole spices don't go off in that timescale.

However, what were you doing 'cooking'?