I never realized that sodium alginate could expire. Now that some of our pantry stock additives are hitting old age, the thought of some of them going bad did cross my mind. Could it be that we should re-order our supplies every year like changing the batteries in the smoke detector and throwing out the expired medications in our medicine cabinets?
I was making a soy caviar for a special luncheon (note the cool 3 tip squeeze bottle I found in our storeroom... perfect for a la minute caviar and I don't need to pull out the machine). After working through the recipe 2 times and having it unexplainably fail (this was one of our previously successful recipes, so I knew it worked), I pondered that the alginate I was using was from an old container. Le Sanctuaire puts very little information on their packaging. They often do not have the specific version of the additive printed so any sort of expiration date may be a lot to ask for. Anyway, once I opened a new bag the recipe worked perfectly again. Did something unseen go wrong in the first 2 attempts, or did it really expire? Is it prolonged contact with the atmosphere that killed it? What other additives might go bad soon?
Soy Caviar (mix 5.1g sodium alginate into 420g water; blend in 380g soy sauce; dispense droplets into a solution of 1000g water mixed with 7g calcium chloride). Little bursts of soy over your cheap tuna.