apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Not exactly an ingredient, but we've been hoarding a bottle of aged (and expensive!) port given by a friend on my husband's birthday. We can't decide on a real special occasion to open it, but I am dying to try it.

I have kept brandied mandarin oranges for quite a long time..Don't know if it can be used again

A number of years ago, I made jelly for the very first time from grapes that grew on my parents' property. I gave one jar of the grape jelly to my boyfriend's mother and she never ate any of it! The jar sat untouched for weeks, months, years. It kinda hurt my feelings every time I saw that jar. Why wasn't she eating it? Was she afraid it would taste terrible? She said she was saving it for something special, but I didn't make that jam for a special occasion. I mean, what special use is there for grape jelly, anyway? I gave her the jelly so that she could make ANY day special. I made it to show her that I loved her.

In short: Emma, please please eat that jam!

Eat that honey! Eat it someway you can really taste it, like with good bread and good butter (toasted or not). On top of steel-cut oatmeal, on top of a slice of feta cheese. The list goes on, but eat, eat, eat.

yeah, we hoarded a bottle of very expensive cognac for a while, and then were like, what's the point of having it? so we started to have it for worknight nightcaps, and enjoyed it immensely.

Use it! My mom does the same thing but with her china. She says that she saves it for special occasions. Only, no occasion is ever special enough. Just using something like that or your honey and jam makes everyday things special. I want to hoard things, but I've been making myself enjoy them. Once its gone, its gone and I may never have it again, but I sure enjoyed it while I had it and I'll have the memories.

Yes!!

Actually, another jar of chestnut honey. French chestnut honey. French chestnut honey that I bought in New York at Dean & Deluca, drove home to Canada, and moved via sea shipment to Geneva, where we do most of our grocery shopping in... France. You know, where jars of chestnut honey are easy to find.

I bought it to make some chestnut madelines out of Claudia Fleming's The Last Course (which is being reprinted btw). So I should try to make some I guess!!

I always hoard the last drop or last serving -- and try to hide it from my husband you gobbles everything up as soon as he can. He gobbled up my favourite preserves -- Staud of Vienna's Blood Orange with Rum. I am keeping an essentially empty jar in the fridge just so that I can sniff it until I am able to replace it (nuts, I know...). Fortunately they actually sell the stuff downtown at a chi-chi department store, and it costs half the price it does in New York, so hopefully it'll be replaced soon...

Thanks to this post, I've just been inspired to break open the tin of Mariage Freres tea that I've been hoarding. :)

I am currently hoarding: (1) two jars of maple flakes, which were incredibly difficult to find; (2) a box of pane carasau; and (3) several packages of Tim Tams that my friends brought me from Australia last summer. I'm also hoarding the last of my home-grown canned tomatoes, which I can't bear to finish off until the temperature rises above 45.

don't hoard, life is too short! i bet that honey will be great in baklava.

My partner's mother gave us a somewhat expensive-ish tin of saffron ($95 for 1 oz) for Christmas 2 years ago. Because of the price, I had been using it very infrequenly in order to make it last, and substituting the good stuff with very cheap "saffron" in most dishes. But the cheap stuff just just ain't the same.

Nowadays, I'm more inclined to use the expensive stuff. My attitude is that it's meant to be used and will go bad if not used. And when it's gone, we'll just have to bite the bullet and purchase another $95 tin. Even if used regularly, a 1 oz tin will last through an entire year.

All of my aunt's homemade jam. I've been figuring out what to use it with for years. Problem is I'm not a jam & toast kinda persen and the girlfriend (who makes PBJs) says that it's too special to use on PBJ (either that or she doesn't like the jam, your guess is as good as mine).

I've also just canned my own apple sauce and chutney. I never know if/when/how I should use it (though the chutney is great on pork).

YES! Herbs de provence, at $16 for a teeeny weeny jar, I definitely am guilty of hoarding it!

I have some while truffle vinegar reduction, which is tasty but I can't seem to figure out what to use it on, so I have sort of unintentionally hoarded it for a while now...

be thankful you had access to good food and enjoy it already. don't die with that still sitting in the cabinet. that would a true waste.

yes! i am definitely guilty of this. namely, i have a small jar of saffron that my mom brought me from spain that has gone untouched. not sure what's stopping me!

Well, I was hoarding some wine I bought in Sicily... but I cracked that on "open your wine" day a few days ago! OMG SO worth the wait and the best wine I have ever had. I am STILL hoarding almond liquer that was given to me by the man who makes the corks for Sicily's wine bottles. I stayed in his rental house while I was there. Nicest man ever and doesnt speak a lick of english (and I dont speak Italian/ Sicilian- a language unto itself). Best vacay.

I dont hoard stuff anymore. I used to but why hoard when you can enjoy? Just do it!

DK10: Tim Tams are at Target now if youre in the US!
http://tarablogsabouteverything.blogspot.com/2009/03/review-tim-tam-slam.html

Mead.
It's hard to find proper mead in Indiana.
I had three bottles that I was keeping for 'something special'...then one day I thought, "Today is Tuesday. I'm alive and happy. Today IS special!" and I popped one of them open. OMG delicious. The mead was savored for a few days and in a moment of profound philosophical discovery I realized that the memory of the drink is so much more enjoyable than waiting for that 'special' day that may or may not come. After learning that little lesson, I only have one bottle in reserve that's waiting for not a 'special' day, but a proper spring day on which to fully savor the flavors of mead and appreciate my crocus blooms.

Though I do have an expensive vanilla bean that's waiting for me to figure out what to do with it.

I don't usually "hoard" things...rather I "ration" them. Especially those things my mom ships me from Australia that I know I won't get more of for quite some time. I don't want to eat them when I'm rushing, I want to eat them when I can really relax and enjoy them. And yes, I do ration my Tim Tams. I know they're at Target, but only for a limited time, AND my Target doesn't seem to have any!

I guess you could say I'm hoarding the last bit from a jar of ginger jam I bought a little over a year ago at a craft fair. Pure ginger jam (not pear-ginger, just ginger). I've been using it in tiny doses until I can find some to replace it!

I did intentionally hoard a few bottles of wine from my favorite winery in Walla Walla, WA for several years (including moving them 1/2 way across the country). I was saving them for an occasion where I could share them with friends, and such an occasion did come around: Thanksgiving. The wine was fabulous and the company even more so.

I'm really bad about doing this with choice pieces of produce. Yeah I'm that annoying guy who digs around the bins looking for the prefect _____. Obviously its not too smart considering most produce goes bad sooner rather than later. Half the time I end up haphazardly cooking it because its starting to look like its going to turn and haven't quite made it to the weekend or whatever night I was saving it for when I have the time/energy to cook and enjoy whatever I was planning on making with it. I was especially bad about this in the summer when I would hit the farmers market. Grocery store specimens usually dont inspire such hoarding tendencies in me.

I eat everything all the time. I recently cleaned out my mom's kitchen, though and there were things like spices and special teas that were older than I am. Pretty alarming. I am finishing a bottle of very old balsamic someone brought me from Italy slowly, but I am finishing it.

After reading all the posts I don't feel so bad. Some people are addicted to buying shoes, I'm addicted to buying sauces and jams. I buy them w/ good intentions of using them. In fact a new sauce or jam will take center stage on my counter with dreams of being incorporated into a main dish or dessert. Then life gets in the way and I relegate the inspired sauce / jam to the cupboard along side the others. Good news... I read a post a while back about using stuff from the cupboards and it forced me to get creative and start to use those sauces and jams that I lovingly purchased. It made me think, who needs crossword puzzles to challenge the brain, there are sauces and jams that are screaming to be in added to a recipe.

My twist on hoarding is that I will open the honey and I will use it and I will enjoy it...until it's almost gone. And then some magical-thinking kink gets activated and I can't seem to finish it. Because then it will be gone! Stupid, I know. But if I were consistently rational I'd make no sense to anyone on this earth.

Every summer my neighbor and I make Tomato Pickle, which is sort of like an Indian salsa. It is sooooo good. But we only make enough for 4 jars each. I realized after the first year if I ate it at the rate I wanted, it is gone in a month. So I now hoard it.

I used to hoard but I have learned that, more often than not, an item will spoil :(

So, I've learned, for me, it's best to use and delight in those lovely items, whatever they may be.

Don't save them, just use them up! What's the poing of having it around if you're never going to use it? You'll always have the memories.

My friends gave everyone homemade wine and jam at their wedding. I drank the wine when I got back, and have opened the jam. It's like people are waiting for a special occasion, why? Make the occasion special and use it!

Taratootie42, thank you! I have actually bought my local Target out of Tim Tams, and, like Shana Lee, I am concerned that they'll only be at the store for a limited time. So I continue to hoard. It's like a Tim Tam illness, what I have. :)

We were hoarding some vanilla cognac, but we finally realized we'd never finish the bottle ourselves. Now that it's openly offered, we'll still never finish the bottle. It's delicious, but you only need a few tiny sips to feel warm all over.

I think I'm incapable of hoarding food. I'd probably be better off if I was. If I had that jar of honey in the picture, I'd open it right now.

Red Pepper Jam purchased at an Amish Farmer's Market near my parents home in Lancaster, PA. I only get home about once/year so I save it until I know I'm going home and then eat it... and quickly replace it. I know I can get Pepper Jam elsewhere, but it really reminds me of my mom and home.

sure am guilty of hoarding, my husband bought a beautiful bottle og red wine, that i just kept saving for "that" special occasion.... i recently gave up alcohol....still havent tasted it!!!... use that honey!!!!

For those of you hoarding saffron DON'T... it loses its potency... you should use it as soon as possible!

I bought a pound of Tahitian vanilla beans last year for very cheap. I've been using them sparingly, but last month I decided that they're going to dry up if I don't use them up soon. Now I've been enjoying homemade vanilla extract, vanilla-speckled cupcakes, and giving them away as gifts.

Eau de vie mirabelle from Bitche, France. Bought it in '06, and have only drunk half the bottle.

Sodium Alginate and Calcium Chloride in bulk!

These are the two ingredients I need to make fruit "caviar" and I'm always afraid I'll run out!

http://mylastbite.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/adventures-in-molecular-cooking-3/

Use to but then decided WHY? Enjoy it and if we get a chance to have again, it will be an even better suprise.