RELATED: If You Have This Spice at Home, Throw It Away Immediately, FDA Says. If you look in your cabinet right now and see red-colored spices, you’ll want to take them out. Grace Woinicz, chef and CEO of The Brilliant Kitchen, says the “heat and humidity in cabinets causes damage” to red spices, which will make them lose their flavor. “When kept in cabinets, their chemical properties are lost, and they may go bad quickly,” she explains. Red spices include popular staples like red pepper, paprika, and chili powder. Lisa Richards, CNC, a nutritionist and creator of The Candida Diet, says spices like red pepper, paprika, and chili powder are the most common spices to be stored incorrectly. “It is uncommon knowledge, but important to know, that red spices should be kept in the refrigerator,” she says.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb But you don’t necessarily have to throw out red spices if you’ve been keeping them in a cabinet, says Geri Williams, DC, the supervising doctor at Ideal You Health Center. “Spices don’t go bad in the same way that milk or meat goes bad,” she says. “These spices will still be edible and won’t be harmful in any way, but they may not provide as much flavor to your dishes as you’d like them to.” RELATED: For more help around the house, sign up for our daily newsletter. Don’t go throwing all your spices in the refrigerator now just to be safe. Unless they need to be, refrigerating your spices could lead to more trouble. Williams says that sometimes when you take spices out of the fridge, it creates condensation. “This condensation can form mold for many spices and you then would have to discard your spices if they start to develop mold growth,” she explains. So keep your non-red spices stored in your cabinet. You shouldn’t only be worried about where you’re storing your red-colored spices, however. Megan Ayala, a nutrition expert and founder of Patricia and Carolyn, says you should never store any spices in the cabinets near your stove or oven. According to Ayala, “the constant heat emitted” from these kitchen appliances can heat up nearby cabinets and ruin your spices completely. “Always keep your spice cabinets away from heating appliances to prolong your spices’ lives,” she says. “Most people prefer their cabinets near their freezer or closer to the fan, away from sunlight.” RELATED: Never Eat Leftovers That’ve Been in the Fridge This Long, Experts Warn.
