That $12 bottle of fish sauce I bought 18 months ago still tastes fine

I found a bottle of fish sauce buried behind some old takeout containers in my fridge. Looked up when I bought it, turns out it was February of last year. I was about to toss it but figured I'd try a drop first. No weird smell, no mold, still salty and funky as hell. Anyone else just go by smell and taste instead of those expiration dates?

2 comments

2 Comments

sethtorres6d ago

My grandma had a bottle of soy sauce in her pantry from like 1998 and she used it up until she passed in 2015 lmao. She always said salt is a preservative so as long as it smells right and doesn't have anything floating in it, you're good. I've definitely kept fish sauce longer than 18 months before, that stuff is basically liquid salt with some funk added. The only time I ever had one go bad was when I left it in direct sunlight by accident for a few months and it turned kinda brown and cloudy. But even then I just used it in a stir fry and didn't die or anything lol.

emmasmith6h ago

Gotta wonder how much of that "expiration" stuff is just companies covering their own asses. Like do they actually test fish sauce after 18 months or do they just pick a random date and slap it on there. What do you think happens first with fish sauce that makes it actually go bad, is it more about the seal failing or the salt content dropping or what. I've had some that got darker over time but still worked fine in a marinade and couldn't tell the difference.