Contents

The one maize that explodes, at about 14% internal moisture. Dry kernels keep two years; popped and bagged, three months; the microwave packets sit between them because of the fat in them.

How long it keeps

Unopened, this keeps 2 years — which is what puts it on the long shelf.

As sold Unopened, in the cupboard Once opened
dry kernels in jar 2 years 1 year
commercially popped in bags 2–3 months 1–2 weeks
microwave packets 6–12 months 1–2 days

Counted from the day you bought it. Figures are the USDA FSIS FoodKeeper table's, for unopened storage at room temperature; FoodKeeper counts a month as 30 days.

FoodKeeper's own note: After opening time applies to prepared product.

The table was not pulled from USDA — fsis.usda.gov answers 403 to non-browser clients from this machine — so it came from a mirror of the data.gov dataset and its vintage is unverified. Treat a single figure as indicative, not as a use-by date.