How long? Questions regarding waiting time, storage and lifespan of certain baked products and some cooked items used for desserts are commonly asked by a lot of homebakers out there. Here are the answers.

Q: Christmas is coming Adoree and Jun Jun, and I just checked on my chocolate chips and saw that they were all stuck together and some were a bit melted. What can I do with them? Can I still use them for making cookies? (Krisanta of Quezon City)

Jun Jun: Hi Kris, thank you for your letter. Chocolate chips are best when kept at room temperature; however, the temperature we have here will really cause some of your chips to melt. If they are stuck together, you may refrigerate them for a few minutes and snap them from each other.

As for the melted ones, you should taste and find out if they have an aftertaste. If so, the fat in them would be over its age.  We tend to buy more than what we need during the season of plenty. Be careful with perishable ingredients and just buy the amount that you will be using. 

Adoree: Hi, Krisanta.  You are right; it’s the ‘ber’ months once again and Christmas is surely just around the corner. Regarding your chocolate chip clusters, you can still use them by trying to separate them from each other, if that can still be done. If not, you can use a knife and chop them off. For the melted ones, you can put them in a cool environment, like an air-conditioned room. Once they are set, you may use them for your favorite recipes. You may also opt to use them for recipes which need melted chocolate.

Q: Dried fruits and nuts are always a part of the holiday season. I want to buy some for cakes that I will start making by next month. If I have leftovers, where’s the best place to keep them? How long will they last? How do I know if the dried nuts are no longer good for baking? (Ella of Manila)

Jun Jun: Hi Ella, thanks for questions. It’s a joy to receive letters from everyone. It is best to keep your dried fruits in the freezer and thaw them slowly, keeping their moistness all throughout. The lifespan of dried fruits and nuts is usually a year or so. After two years, they lose their moistness and start becoming grainy with a strong aftertaste. You would know if you enjoy eating good dried fruits. The dried fruit must be plump and will no longer have any moistness. 

Adoree: The shelf life of most dried fruits and nuts is one to two years. They are best stored in the freezer. You would know if the dried fruits are no longer good if they are really dry and have a whitish coating on their skin. If you eat them and they do not have a nice texture anymore, they are no longer good for consumption. For nuts, since they are high in fat, you would know if they are no longer good to eat if they taste rancid.

Q: I have a lot of nuts from last year’s baking, it tasted a bit funny. Is there a way to remove this? (Melanie of Quezon Province)

Jun Jun: Melanie once your nuts are stale, this is between eight to 12 months, you cannot cook or toast them since their fat will be rendered and intensify the funny stale taste. What I suggest is putting or cooking the nuts with dishes that have a strong flavor to offset the stale taste. The other method is by throwing them away, but it would be a crime to do that.  Making a mixed spiced nut recipe would be good since the spices will remove the funny taste. 

Adoree: For baking, I do not suggest you use them once they already taste rancid. But for other purposes, you may opt to roast the nuts; this will remove the ‘off’ taste a bit.

Q: Why do we see a lot of dried fruits rehydrated in liquors? What does it do to the dried fruits?  (Lourdes of Mandaluyong)

Jun Jun: Thanks for writing, Lourdes. Most chefs hydrate their dried fruits in liquors because it gives the necessary liquid to rehydrate them as well as deepen the taste of the dried fruits. I myself put raisins and dried cranberries in a mixture of rum, brandy, and port. Your baked products become very special because of this. 

Adoree: The liquor will moisten and plump up the dried fruits as well as give a bolder and deeper flavor to them. When used for your baked products, the soaked dried fruits will give a nice flavor to the baked product.

Q: Our candied fruits are also dried fruits? Can we replace one for the other? (Cindy of Manila)

Jun Jun: Dried fruits are fruits placed in driers so the sweetness of the dried fruits come from the drying method since the water on the fruit is slowly removed. Candied fruits, on the other hand, are fruits placed in a sugar and water mixture even if the fruit is inherently sweet already. The fruit is candied so that it doesn’t change in appearance and texture while eating.

Adoree:  Cindy, they are two different things; you cannot use them interchangeably.

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