Post #335747 by The Gnomon on Mon, Oct 1, 2007 6:32 AM

I've had some luck by rebottling Nellie & Joes (the only key lime juice I've found worth using). Once it's exposed to the air long enough it starts to deteriorate, of course. I can never seem to use up a whole bottle of Nellie and Joe's at one time, so I used to end up pouring half or more down the drain. Naturally, using bottled lime juice is a last resort in the absence of real limes.

So...right off the bat, before using any juice from a new bottle at all, I decant all of the juice into a few small tight seal, stoppered bottles till they overflow, then seal them. Having them overflow keeps out the air after the stopper is placed in and juice squirts out. That limits the exposure to the air to the time spent filling the bottles.

If done right, they can last a while without refrigeration, but it's best to refrigerate them anyway. I don't know how long they actually last 'cause I try to use them up right away. The point is that you can stretch its shelf life out long enough to not have to discard any juice from a newly opened bottle of N&J's.