# My Canned Flour Smells & Tastes Weird



## jbillh

Hi Folks,

We broke out some of our food storage the other day and made some brownies. Yep, part of our storage is cocoa. No matter how bad things get daddy needs his chocolate!  

Anyway, they really didn't taste right so we started investigating. We found that our flour ~2 years old and in a sealed metal gallon can with an oxygen absorber in it was the culprit.

So, any tips on getting the taste/smell out of metal canned flour?

I sure appreciate the help.

All the Best,

Bill


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## popcorn590

*You bad flour*

We have had flour stored for over four years. Today I made a loaf of bread and it was fine. We stored it in the sealed plastic container. We live in eastern Washington south of Spokane, so you get an idea of our climate. We also have flour stored in the Home Depot five gallon buckets. I was advised to put a bay leaf on the top of the flour, and leave it there to ward off insects.
Hope this helps with storage, sorry I can not speak to your situation of bad flour, only how we have fared.
Popcorn590


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## jungatheart

jbillh said:


> Hi Folks,
> 
> We broke out some of our food storage the other day and made some brownies. Yep, part of our storage is cocoa. No matter how bad things get daddy needs his chocolate!
> 
> Anyway, they really didn't taste right so we started investigating. We found that our flour ~2 years old and in a sealed metal gallon can with an oxygen absorber in it was the culprit.
> 
> So, any tips on getting the taste/smell out of metal canned flour?
> 
> I sure appreciate the help.
> 
> All the Best,
> 
> Bill


Sometimes whole wheat flour will go rancid but Emergency Essentials says their canned flour will last a long, long time.


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## OldCootHillbilly

Was this flour factory canned er somthin yall put up yerself? I'm wonderin if it be somethin ta do with the metal can itself. I don't ever use metal, either plactic buckets, vac bags er mylar. Simply a guess.


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## JayJay

OldCootHillbilly said:


> Was this flour factory canned er somthin yall put up yerself? I'm wonderin if it be somethin ta do with the metal can itself. I don't ever use metal, either plactic buckets, vac bags er mylar. Simply a guess.


"""I'm wonderin if it be somethin ta do with the metal can itself."""

Exactly...and I tend to think about the following after reading lots of uncouth things manufacturers do..especially to canned goods..
Could the 2 year stored flour possibly have been older than the 4 year old stored flour regardless of the use by date??
I would bet that happens more often than not regardless of the 'use by date'.
JMO...JayJay.


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## Herbalpagan

I'm real sensitive to flour that has gone "off". This is why I am storing the whole wheat now. I do know that this flour won't "hurt" you in any way, it just isn't as tasty. Sometimes the taste dissapates when it's cooked in a recipe, sometimes it doesn't.


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## lotsoflead

there's only one way to store flour and that's in a freezer, another reason to store wheat and a grinder. most processed grains will not store well
this is flour from 2007


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## lotsoflead

Herbalpagan said:


> I'm real sensitive to flour that has gone "off". This is why I am storing the whole wheat now. I do know that this flour won't "hurt" you in any way, it just isn't as tasty. Sometimes the taste dissapates when it's cooked in a recipe, sometimes it doesn't.


rancid may be the word you want.


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## IlliniWarrior

*Use Food Grade Buckets*



popcorn590 said:


> We have had flour stored for over four years. Today I made a loaf of bread and it was fine. We stored it in the sealed plastic container. We live in eastern Washington south of Spokane, so you get an idea of our climate. _*We also have flour stored in the Home Depot five gallon buckets. *_I was advised to put a bay leaf on the top of the flour, and leave it there to ward off insects.
> Hope this helps with storage, sorry I can not speak to your situation of bad flour, only how we have fared.
> Popcorn590


Hate to see these posting of people packing food using paint buckets from the home improvement stores ........ even worse when a buffer like a mylar bag isn't used ........

just one reason - a "mold release" agent is used in the manufacture of buckets ..... it is simply a chemical coating create a non binding between the raw plastic and the bucket shaped mold ..... a special and much more expensive non toxic / FDA approved release agent must be used for food grade buckets ....... this release agent binds into the plastic and can not be washed out ...... using a non food grade bucket for any kind of food usage is the worst idea in the world


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## Emerald

I agree about hardware buckets as compared to bakery buckets-I get all of mine from a local bakery(most are 3 1/2 to 4 gallon and not 5) they are clean and have good rubber gaskets on the lids and only .99¢ each.. Food safe-not all white number 2 buckets are food grade.
I also use bay leaves in my cupboards and flour to keep India mealy moths out.


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## proactivecanning

*Your Flour*

If packaged right, your flour can last up to 10 years.

We currently package white four in #10 cans with a 1200cc oxygen absorber. We also recommend storing it in the refrigerator.

If your can sealer isn't sealing the can right, the slightest leak will cause your flour to go bad pretty quick.

We are experimenting with packaging flour in vacuum sealed Mylar bags and then sealing them in #10 cans with an oxygen absorber.

Regards,

Tony
ProactiveCanning


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## TechAdmin

There's nothing you can do since it's gone rancid. How much of it do you have?


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## jbillh

Thanks Tony, we are thinking to do the same... Mylar bags and sealed buckets though.

Hi Dean, we have a lot! Probably about 20 cases of 6 cans each. We'll keep it and eat it if needed, but we will try to replace it over time.

It is quite possible that the can we opened just wasn't sealed well or something... we're hoping anyway.

Take Good Care,

Bill


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## jbillh

Hi OCH,

We did it ourselves at a cannery. They had professional staff and equipment. We're hoping it was just a bad seal on one can... we still have lots more of it in the basement!

All the Best,

Bill


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## Herbalpagan

lotsoflead said:


> rancid may be the word you want.


You are right! I couldn't for the life of me think of the correct term, and even then, most folks equate rancid with meat. ANY fat can go rancid.


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## jbillh

*Smelly Four Update*

Hi Folks,

As an update... we have been into several cans of flour now and none of them smell or taste weird like the one I mentioned before. Not sure what happened... just hoping it doesn't happen again.

That said; if we get hungry enough smelly / weird tasting flour will be a welcomed treat 

All the Best,

Bill


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## NaeKid

Sounds good - it was probably just a bad-can like you said. Good to know that your whole batch wasn't bad. :congrat:


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## The_Blob

jbillh said:


> Hi Folks,
> 
> As an update... we have been into several cans of flour now and none of them smell or taste weird like the one I mentioned before. Not sure what happened... just hoping it doesn't happen again.
> 
> That said; if we get hungry enough smelly / weird tasting flour will be a welcomed treat
> 
> All the Best,
> 
> Bill


you could always feed it to the chickens and 'fatten' em up


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## DJgang

I noticed at Lowes the other day, they are carrying food grade buckets. They are white. So, I picked up a few. Like 3 bucks each.


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## Onebigelf

Oh yeah. Paint cans are a bad, bad idea without using a non-permeable liner. Those cans are NOT food safe. There's no telling what's in there. I wouldn't use even food cans (#10s) without a liner per the folks at my local LDS cannery. 

Use a mylar bag and seal it with an O2 and it should last much better. Maybe not 20 years like wheat berries, but are any of us really thinking that we're prepping for 20 years from now?

If I have to throw out or go ahead and use and replace stuff 5 years from now I'll consider myself blessed.

John


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## snipers_girl101

Atwoods had them a week or so ago for about the same price (is atwoods anywhere but down here?? they're alot like tractor supply stores). I picked up some for storage and a couple just for all the soap making I do, because I've quickly outgrown the two I was using! Anyway, these are food grade, be careful if you go, tho, they carry several that are not.


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## gypsysue

I found a rubbermaid tote in one of our sheds recently that I had packed two 25-lb. bags of white flour into more than 8 years ago. It had gotten buried under other totes. I opened one of the bags and dumped it into my 5-gallon flour bucket and it smelled fine, so I went ahead and started using it. No ill effects, no bad odors. I guess we're lucky, because I'm not usually so careless in storing food or in leaving it sit like that for all those years. Our cold climate probably helped preserve it too.

Most of my flour and wheatberries are properly sealed in buckets. We get buckets free from a grocery store bakery, but Lowes and Wal-mart sell food grade buckets.


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