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tacmedic
04-29-2008, 03:27 AM
I am wondering if anyone has any good ideas on the best way to store coffee for the long term. Would it be best to buy some unroasted beans "green beans" so to speak and vacuum pack these and roast as I need them?

owl_girl
04-29-2008, 04:26 AM
We put them in the frezer. They seem to stay fresher longer that way. But i dont know if thats what your looking for

crashdive123
04-29-2008, 06:58 AM
The enemies of coffee are moisture, light and heat. If you are purchasing cans of coffee for long term storage they will last quite a while - I remember getting 25 pound cans of coffee in Guam loaded onto our ship that must have been "lost" in the warehouse, because some had a date on them that was 10 years old. Didn't really notice a difference in that can and the rest (granted the bulk cans of coffee the Navy purchased were not the highest quality). So if your cans are unopened, keep them dry and away from high temps. If you use your freezer for prolonging the life of coffee (I'm assuming smaller quantities here) I believe it is best that once you remove the coffee from the freezer that you do not return it. The dramatic changes in temperature will affect the coffee. Since coffee is very porous it easily absorbs moisture. By changing the temp often, condensation tends to form and will be absorbed.

Rick
04-29-2008, 07:15 AM
The really was a great post, Crash. Not being a vet I hadn't considered the requirements for long term storage of food by the military. Subs and surface ships like a carrier have to store "regular" food for fairly long periods so it would be interesting to know how they handle perishable foods like lettuce, citrus and bananas. Or is that by resupply?

crashdive123
04-29-2008, 07:22 AM
No resupply for submarines. The fresh food runs out within a couple of weeks. After that it's frozen, powdered, packaged with a few exceptions. We could get eggs and potatoes to last several months. We did some testing with lettuce and nitrogen loading the container it was stored in. Seemed to work fairly well. Got the lettuce to last a couple of months, but it just wasn't practical to do on a large scale.

Rick
04-29-2008, 07:31 AM
What? No root cellar in a sub? I assume cold storage for fresh stuff to store even for a couple of weeks. I'm lucky if I can keep bananas for one week. Even iceburg lettuce begins to brown after 4 days or so. I transfer my lettuce to a 1 gallon freezer bag and add a paper towel to absorb moisture. That gets me a couple of days.

crashdive123
04-29-2008, 07:39 AM
What? No root cellar in a sub?


Bilges.:D:D

Sourdough
04-29-2008, 11:17 AM
Side note last week I opened a bottle of salad dressing that had a use by date of: April 5, 2006 and I just finished the bottle last night. No negative effects. I really wonder about this "Use by" and "Sell by" date stuff.

Rick
04-29-2008, 11:33 AM
If I understand the dates correctly, they don't indicate the product is bad after that date just that the flavor is best if used by that date.

http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa102102a.htm

DOGMAN
04-29-2008, 11:48 AM
Even iceburg lettuce begins to brown after 4 days or so. I transfer my lettuce to a 1 gallon freezer bag and add a paper towel to absorb moisture.

I am sure you guys know this tip but if you don't, avoid storing lettuce with apples, pears or bananas. These fruits release ethylene gas, a natural ripening agent, that will cause the lettuce to develop brown spots and decay quickly. Also. that gas, makes everything else ripen simultaneously. So, if one banana starts to ripen before the others- get it away from the rest, and your other fruits and veggies- because once one starts they are all going to start. This will greatly extend the storage life of your f's and v's.

dilligaf2u2
04-29-2008, 12:11 PM
Some time back I bought 2 pallets of coffee. I keep it in a room with little sunlight and a steady cool temp. One pallet is about gone in the last year and the coffee is just as good today as when I opened the first can.

Don

hoosierarcher
05-01-2008, 03:22 PM
Side note last week I opened a bottle of salad dressing that had a use by date of: April 5, 2006 and I just finished the bottle last night. No negative effects. I really wonder about this "Use by" and "Sell by" date stuff.

"Use By" dates are an arbitrary assigned date. Honey has a use by date on it and honey NEVER goes bad. It's a liability issue. Any unopened item kept properly refridgerated will last well past it's use by date. Opened use your own judgement but 2 months is about all I'll risk if it smells and tastes OK.
Canned food has been eaten that was from the 50s and it was hard for most of those judging to determine any difference. Also 100 year old can goods have been tested by labs and while they didn't have 100% of their original nutritional value they were still edible and nutricious enough to keep a person alive. Anything canned with todays ultra sterile, high tech methods will certainly last you the rest of your life if your in your 20s or older.
As far as the original post freezing is not the preferred method of coffee storage. Ideally you should vaccuum pack green coffee beans and roast as needed. But vaccuum packed whole beans that are kept cool and moisture free will make drinkable coffee after 20 years. 40 for green coffee riasted as need. Store it like grain. Mind you 20 year old roasted coffee will not taste "great" it will just be better than no coffee at all.

wareagle69
05-11-2008, 09:58 AM
it amazes me the mental conditioning of the best before dates, which is what it means best before not expires on this date but look at milk the wife will dispose of it on the bag day how much money do you think the grocery industry makes on food people throw out then replace cuz of our conditioning to these dates i'll bet its in the upper millions