Spices, like all foods, have a distinct shelf life and will go bad. The length of that shelf life depends on how the spices are cared for.
Heat, humidity, air, and sunlight all have detrimental effects: they break down the chemical compounds (also known as essential oils) that give spices their flavors and aromas. When these chemical compounds break down the flavors lose potency. In some spices, flavors, and aromas can become rancid, moldy, musty, or dirty at which point the spices should be thrown away.

Kept at ideal conditions, spices and herbs can live long, fragrant lives:

Dried herbs will keep for 1 year.
Ground spices will keep for 1 year.
Whole spices will keep for 3 years.
Salts will keep indefinitely.
Flavored salts will keep for 3 years, and though the infused flavors might vanish the salt itself is still usable.
Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, nuts and truffle products– unique to the spice world in regards to storage – only keep for 3 to 6 months.


Keeping this in mind, we generally encourage customers to purchase whole spices as they possess higher potency and longer shelf life.