I received a call from a customer who hadn't ordered for a while but was running low and wanted to order more fruit this year. The last time she ordered was in 2012. When I told her this she volunteered the following information: "I just opened a can of peaches this morning and it tastes just as great now as 8 years ago".

This information was not surprising to me. Muirhead Canning guarantees the fruit for 3 years and puts a "Best By" date on each can. How then do I explain this woman who was enjoying the fruit 5 years over the best by date? The short answer is she is taking good care of her canned fruit. She is keeping the cans in a cool dry location. If you have a dry basement that is usually your best storage location for the canned fruit. Kept cool and dry the fruit will last for a very long time. When the fruit finally does go past it's prime it will not make you sick. What may happen (as long as the can is still sealed and the lid is not bulged) is that the fruit will start to take on a metallic taste. That is how you know the fruit isn't good to eat - it doesn't taste good anymore.

Just to be clear, our advice on the "best by" dates applies only to our Hood-Crest canned fruit, I don't know enough about other companies products to speak for them. I hope this is useful information.