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TFA cheesecake graham stability
- Thread starter joeyboy
- Start date
It's very hard to tell when you have nothing to compare it with. For all I know it lost it's flavor a year ago, but I wouldn't know, because I didn't have a new one to compare LOL
Here's what Linda at TFA has to say on the subject. A bit long, but I'd image the answer to your question is herein contained. 
THE FLAVOR APPRENTICE
SHELF LIFE FLAVOR INFORMATION
Concentrated flavors do not spoil, or go rancid, like fruit juices can.
But under certain conditions they can change.
In other words, you will notice that a "fresh" bottle might seem different from an older bottle.
Basically, what my flavor manufacturer tells me is that the flavors have a shelf life of at least three to six months and often much longer, when they are not continuously opened and are stored in glass. It is not necessary to store them in the refrigerator, but I don’t think that this would hurt them. But sometimes refrigeration can cause re-crystallization of flavors that have a lot of the crystals like ethyl maltol in them.
Here’s some background.
Every concentrated flavor is a mixture of raw materials, and every flavor blend can act differently. For example flavors that have a vanilla characteristic are going to have slightly different storage capabilities than fruit flavors. Here’s the reason.
Vanilla and caramel flavors are mostly made of large molecules like vanillin, ethyl vanillin , etc.
These molecules are not very volatile, and tend not to escape the bottle when you open it. They will be fairly stable. Fruit flavors, on the other hand, are made of much smaller molecules in general. Whenever you open a bottle, it’s the lightest and smallest molecules that escape and reach your nose quickly. Over time when you open a bottle over and over again more and more proportion of these lighter molecules leave the bottle and eventually the character of the flavor will be changed. This doesn’t mean the flavors spoiled, it’s just different.
So this is one piece of advice, if you are going to store a flavor for a long period of time, transfer the flavor to smaller bottles that will you will not have to open over and over again.
also, when a flavor is warm, like if it’s a hot day, when you open the bottle even more of the volatile molecules will escape, much more will escape than if the flavor was cool. This is true for all liquids, when liquids are heated the molecules are much more easily converted to their gaseous state. So in general it is a good idea to keep the flavor cool though I don’t think refrigeration is necessary.
Also, in general, it is best not to store these flavors long-term in plastic.
The plastic that we ship our larger sizes in ( 4 ounces and above), is HDPE plastic, which is very resistant to interaction with the flavors.
but even with HDPE plastic, I really wouldn’t recommend storing them for longer than a month or so.. It’s much better to store things long-term in glass.
also, it is not a good idea at all to store the flavors with the plastic eyedropper caps on the bottles. The rubber that’s used with the eyedropper’s is extremely soft and interacts with a great many materials. If you try to store your flavors with these rubber dropper caps attached you will most likely ruin both the caps and the flavors.
i hope this helps, linda
THE FLAVOR APPRENTICE
SHELF LIFE FLAVOR INFORMATION
Concentrated flavors do not spoil, or go rancid, like fruit juices can.
But under certain conditions they can change.
In other words, you will notice that a "fresh" bottle might seem different from an older bottle.
Basically, what my flavor manufacturer tells me is that the flavors have a shelf life of at least three to six months and often much longer, when they are not continuously opened and are stored in glass. It is not necessary to store them in the refrigerator, but I don’t think that this would hurt them. But sometimes refrigeration can cause re-crystallization of flavors that have a lot of the crystals like ethyl maltol in them.
Here’s some background.
Every concentrated flavor is a mixture of raw materials, and every flavor blend can act differently. For example flavors that have a vanilla characteristic are going to have slightly different storage capabilities than fruit flavors. Here’s the reason.
Vanilla and caramel flavors are mostly made of large molecules like vanillin, ethyl vanillin , etc.
These molecules are not very volatile, and tend not to escape the bottle when you open it. They will be fairly stable. Fruit flavors, on the other hand, are made of much smaller molecules in general. Whenever you open a bottle, it’s the lightest and smallest molecules that escape and reach your nose quickly. Over time when you open a bottle over and over again more and more proportion of these lighter molecules leave the bottle and eventually the character of the flavor will be changed. This doesn’t mean the flavors spoiled, it’s just different.
So this is one piece of advice, if you are going to store a flavor for a long period of time, transfer the flavor to smaller bottles that will you will not have to open over and over again.
also, when a flavor is warm, like if it’s a hot day, when you open the bottle even more of the volatile molecules will escape, much more will escape than if the flavor was cool. This is true for all liquids, when liquids are heated the molecules are much more easily converted to their gaseous state. So in general it is a good idea to keep the flavor cool though I don’t think refrigeration is necessary.
Also, in general, it is best not to store these flavors long-term in plastic.
The plastic that we ship our larger sizes in ( 4 ounces and above), is HDPE plastic, which is very resistant to interaction with the flavors.
but even with HDPE plastic, I really wouldn’t recommend storing them for longer than a month or so.. It’s much better to store things long-term in glass.
also, it is not a good idea at all to store the flavors with the plastic eyedropper caps on the bottles. The rubber that’s used with the eyedropper’s is extremely soft and interacts with a great many materials. If you try to store your flavors with these rubber dropper caps attached you will most likely ruin both the caps and the flavors.
i hope this helps, linda
I just bought 120ml but I'll go through it, noooooo problemo!
I don't think I make as much as you.
@Huckleberried So if it has just lost strength and not had a major flavor change, which I think it did change some, do you think I could just increase the percentage some to compensate for it?
I use a lot of this flavor, LOL.
I don't know Joeyboy. Part of me says maybe not, but there's really only one way to find out. In my head this makes sense, but typing it out.. confusing, lol. If the flavor is light in mixes, it makes sense to add more. Then another part of my brain says if it's lacking in flavor, a larger percent might still be lacking.
Mix up a sample size of a recipe and see how it tastes.
I don't know Joeyboy. Part of me says maybe not, but there's really only one way to find out. In my head this makes sense, but typing it out.. confusing, lol. If the flavor is light in mixes, it makes sense to add more. Then another part of my brain says if it's lacking in flavor, a larger percent might still be lacking.
Mix up a sample size of a recipe and see how it tastes.
I want to try Squonks raspberry cheesecake ice cream. I can do 5 ml of that and increase to see what happens. I think I have to agree with you, though. When its dead, its dead. Like my FA bilberry. Its also dead. That one lasted That one lasted 8 months. Maybe I will buy smaller bottles.
@Huckleberried I just reordered. I decided better to get new, along with other stuff.
Aside from the larger bottle of cheesecake graham, I'm buying small sizes, too. Especially on the ones that get very little use.
"The plastic that we ship our larger sizes in ( 4 ounces and above), is HDPE plastic, which is very resistant to interaction with the flavors.
but even with HDPE plastic, I really wouldn’t recommend storing them for longer than a month or so"
So if I don't use a the 10ml bottle in a month or so they're crap? Hmm, I would have thought these flavor's would have a decent shelf life.
I guess I have to start mixing up a bunch of juice.
but even with HDPE plastic, I really wouldn’t recommend storing them for longer than a month or so"
So if I don't use a the 10ml bottle in a month or so they're crap? Hmm, I would have thought these flavor's would have a decent shelf life.
I guess I have to start mixing up a bunch of juice.
"The plastic that we ship our larger sizes in ( 4 ounces and above), is HDPE plastic, which is very resistant to interaction with the flavors.
but even with HDPE plastic, I really wouldn’t recommend storing them for longer than a month or so"
So if I don't use a the 10ml bottle in a month or so they're crap? Hmm, I would have thought these flavor's would have a decent shelf life.
I guess I have to start mixing up a bunch of juice.
The remainder of your quoted passage above is, "It’s much better to store things long-term in glass. "
Glass is preferable for all liquids. Your 10ml bottles of flavoring are not crap.
Most of my stuff is in plastic, even from my first order. Tastes fine, vapes fine.
Mine too...
I have the remnants of a 4 ounce bottle from TFA of their RY4 that must be almost 2 years old. It has a distinct plastic taste
I had to get a new, small bottle to check that wasn't the way it always tasted LOL