When it comes to shelled pecans, in addition to visual cues such as mold or any other organic growth, you should use your nose and taste. If the nuts smell stale or like used cooking oil, they are stale. The same thing if they have developed a bitter or stale taste. The first sign of a spoiled nut is a soft or moldy appearance.
Its shell will crack or fade, and its interior will be empty. Also, it would help if you were watching for signs of mold and lint. If it's hard to peel, it's probably spoiled. If the inside is soft or lint-free, you should discard it.
You know that walnuts are stale when they start to taste strong and bitter. Sometimes, they also develop a strange smell that may remind you of old paint, nail polish remover, or something like that. To find out if your shelled pecans are damaged, you'll need to open them. If they look dry or there is a network formation, they are gone.
Another sign that pecans are bad, even if they look and feel fresh, is that walnuts develop a strong bitter or sour taste. When the oil in a nut goes rancid, it turns bitter and seeps into the rest of the nut, causing it to taste horrible, which means that any nut with a bitter taste has gone bad. How do you know if shelled pecans are bad? Stale pecans often develop a bitter, unpleasant taste; if pecans develop a bad smell or taste, or if mold appears, they should be discarded. The most important thing to know is that unlike almonds, shelled pecans don't stay healthy at room temperature.
But for now, we'll say this: In addition to good fats, pecans are good sources of vitamin E and protein, and have antioxidant effects. If those periods aren't long enough for your needs, you can freeze the in-shell and in-shell pecans. In short, if you store pecans in shell, they will be fine for a long time, even if the storage conditions you provide are far from perfect. In the pantry, pecans in shell survive 6 to 12 months, 18 months in the refrigerator, and two to four years in the freezer.
Like many naturally grown foods, pecans are susceptible to pests, fungi, and damage from harvesting and handling. This is because freezing pecans allows you to store them without loss of quality for more than two years. Pecans are a great snack for any diet, but unless you know how to store them properly, they will spoil quickly. The best way to freeze pecans is in small batches with freezer-safe containers, such as plastic containers or bags.
Shelled pecans maintain quality for about two months in the pantry (GPF), nine months in the fridge and up to two years frozen (ILP). This is also true with pecans, and even if only one or two pecans in a container show physical signs of mold, the rest could be infested with spores and invisible growths, so you should always throw away moldy pecans. As you already know, shelled pecans are well protected by their shells, so they don't need any extra protection if you leave them at room temperature. With the delicious flavor, the most antioxidants, and the lowest net carbs per serving of any nut, pecans aren't just an ingredient for holiday cooking and baking.
Pecans should be stored in airtight containers, such as sealed plastic bags, at low temperatures to extend shelf life.
