If you’ve ever had breadcrumbs go bad, it’s usually not a proud moment. A container of dried bread sitting in the pantry is the kind of thing that’s supposed to last forever — at least in our minds. Fishing one out from the back of a shelf and opening it to smell spoiled breadcrumbs is a genuine shock, accompanied by the guilt that comes with forgetting about stored food and letting it go to waste, made all the worse by the fact that breadcrumbs seem like they should be good for years. Well, if you’ve ever lost breadcrumbs to time or are worried about it happening, you don’t need to feel that bad, because while they do last a long time, they don’t last forever, and once you’ve opened that container of store-bought breadcrumbs they will usually only last about six months.
Even without being opened, breadcrumbs may not last as long as you think, being good for about a year, but once that lid comes off, even that small air exposure is going to cut their shelf life in half. And that six month time frame is only if you are storing them properly. Like many of the most essential pantry items, breadcrumbs should always be kept in a cool and dry place away from sunlight and in an airtight container to limit oxygen exposure. If you don’t store them this way, your breadcrumbs may go bad in just a few months, and you’ll need to be on the lookout for spoilage.
Signs of breadcrumb spoilage
What should you be looking out for if you do find an old container of breadcrumbs hanging out in your kitchen? The first and most obvious sign would be mold. If there is any visible mold on the exterior of your breadcrumbs, they’re done, and even if you don’t see it, mold has a pungent and distinct smell that means your breadcrumbs are no longer good. In general any off-seeming or unusual smells in a breadcrumb container are a bad sign. Breadcrumbs that have gone bad may also change texture or color. If they are not stored in a dry place, they may form wet clumps, and breadcrumbs that have sat out for too long and dehydrated will form hard bunches — both should mean a trip to the garbage bin.
If you do open your favorite type of breadcrumbs and for some reason don’t think you will use them up in six months, there is the option of freezing them, but this isn’t ideal. Frozen breadcrumbs will essentially keep forever, but their flavor will degrade after the first three months, and unfreezing breadcrumbs can also make them wet and mushy. The only truly good way to prevent waste is to use them more quickly. But don’t fret, because leftover breadcrumbs have tons of uses, even if you didn’t have a recipe planned. There’s never a shortage of occasions to add some bread and some crunch.
