How Long Does....?

Open one juice jar, check the inside of the lid--no rust, no mold, no bubles at the top of juice that isn't caused by shaking it, then sniff, taste a small bit.

If the icing is sealed, again, open, check the inside of the lid for rust, mold, then do the smell & taste test.

Best--though often last resort--toss it all. For the cost of a couple of bucks you don't need to endanger your health. The juice may have 'emotional' attachements but Gramps would prefer you not to get sick drinking his stuff 60+ months after he set it up.

Here's a good guideline:

http://www.pastrywiz.com/storage/drygoods.htm

The grape juice worries me, but HeronW laid out the plan I would have suggested.

As for the frosting, I'm torn. Part of me says it will be just fine because there isn't a natural ingredient in that kind of processed food to spoil! (Again, smell and taste.) But, part of me says to toss it immediately and don't look back. But, that's just me! I hate cherry flavored anything. Love real cherries but anything else with a cherry flavor is gross to me.

Maryn: Several years? I was about to say that's spooky, but I can't now. I just realized that I have a large bottle of pure vanilla extract that I bought in Mexico some years ago and gave to a friend of mine. That was back when you couldn't find pure vanilla anywhere in the US without paying an arm and a kidney for it. I was at my friend's house about six months ago and noticed they hadn't even opened the bottle yet! (Which kinda ticked-me off a little!) I just said, "You haven't used this so I'm taking it home. I'll use it." It's still perfect. How old is it? In all honesty, I think it's nine years old!

There is no food that can stay in my house long enough to expire. A can of frosting that isn't used on a cake within the first two days of landing in the pantry will end up eaten with a spoon by at least one of us.

PattiTheWicked said:

A can of frosting that isn't used on a cake within the first two days of landing in the pantry will end up eaten with a spoon by at least one of us.

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That's disgusting! You're completely off-the-wall weird! OK, I've done that, too. I don't care for very much, but I do like frosting. I've eaten frosting out of the tub twice in my life. The first time was many, many years ago. (I felt like such a rebel! LOL) The last time was actually last week! LOL.

I was walking the aisles of the grocery store and wanted just a little something sweet. Something I could ration out over time. I came to the frostings and thought, That's it! A spoon or two cures the sweet tooth, it's cheap enough and this stuff never dies anyway!

Whipped Cream Cheese frosting. Mmmm..... (It'll be years and years before I do it again though.)

I've never bought canned frosting. It's way too easy to make the real stuff (butter, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, small bit of cream or milk) and it tastes so much better than to buy the canned stuff. However, I would think that your frosting would be just fine being that sugar is a natural preservative and you are only a few months past the date.

Canned goods I'd be a bit more leery of - esp those that have a high acid content. I had a can of mandarin oranges in my cupboard for a couple of years and when I looked at them they were bulging at the end. I'm lucky they didn't explode.

High acid foods preserve well, though, so I'm not sure why thse would be particularly worrisome to some people. And home canning if you don't know how knowledgeable the person is about home canning, sure, but there's a whole lot of us who do know what we're doing and have no problems doing it properly such that our preserved foods are good for years.

Based on my experience with my own canning, my sister's canning, my mother's canning... I'd say it's definitely possible that the grape juice is perfectly fine.

Yeah, and that was the impression I got from your post, so I'm supporting you in testing the theory that it's still fine. I would. I've eaten canned goods with zero problems that were older than that.

L M Ashton said:

High acid foods preserve well, though, so I'm not sure why thse would be particularly worrisome to some people. And home canning if you don't know how knowledgeable the person is about home canning, sure, but there's a whole lot of us who do know what we're doing and have no problems doing it properly such that our preserved foods are good for years.

Based on my experience with my own canning, my sister's canning, my mother's canning... I'd say it's definitely possible that the grape juice is perfectly fine.

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I was referring to actual canned goods in a tin can (which I know some home canners do as well) foods high in acid tend not to keep as well in cans as does lower acid foods do.

Some info here about it if you are interested.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/452010.html

Ah, got it. Bit of a different beast.