OK, so on Friday I was belly-aching on here that I'd just spent > $16 on a single tub (3 LB) of hi ratio shortening once the shipping was counted. Now, here it is on Sunday, and I have 15 LB of the stuff on my counter, and I'm wondering how long this stuff will last.

I found a wonderful professional cake decorator an hour away, so I went to her house on Saturday. She was kind enough to sell the shortening to me at a reasonable price. For those of you who make a lot of cakes, I know this isn't a lot of shortening for you. But I work full time, am brand spanking new at cake decorating as a hobby, and am wondering how long this shortening will last before turning rancid.

Does anyone know???

Years!!!!

hth

it's like when you have your gallon of oil.....

If it starts getting a yellow tinge, toss it.

You can smell it if it goes bad, but it takes a LONG time...it will start smelling kinda weird. I get 50 lbs but it takes a good 4-5 months to go through it for me.

I got 50# of hi-ratio and what I did was take plastic (fairly large) containers and divide the shortening up into them. I store all of it in the freezer and as I need a new container I take it out the night before so it has thawed the next day for baking. If you have an extra freezer or room in your freezer that would be a great way to keep it.
evelyn

Thank you for all the replies! Your info is all as good as I was hoping!!