This article originally appeared in Food&Wine.
No one wants to see a jar of mustard exploded in their cabinet or dried-out prosciutto on their pantry shelf. Learn from some of the country’s top chefs, including Judy Joo, Donatella Arpaia, and David Lee, who all made the mistake of storing at least one of these items in their pantries instead of the refrigerator or freezer.
From cured meats and maple syrup to mustard and fish sauce, these ingredients should be thrown back into the fridge or freezer before it’s too late. (And check out these incredible jarred foods that chefs always have in their pantries.)
Any type of nuts
“Peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts, and to be honest, all nuts should not be stored in the pantry. If not stored properly in an airtight container, nuts will go stale. And let's be real—we usually grab our nuts from the pantry during a rush and might have wet hands while grabbing from the container or not closing it properly after use. Just a small amount of moisture will cause the nuts to grow bacteria and leaving the nuts exposed will cause it to go stale. The best place to store nuts is in your fridge or freezer in an airtight container.” — Chef Kyu Yi, corporate chef of Baekjeong