Blue spirulina keeps best somewhere cool, dry and dark. Keep the pack properly sealed between uses and, above all, keep moisture out.
How should you store blue spirulina?
Nothing elaborate is required.
Keep the powder in its original sealed pack, somewhere cool and dry and out of direct sunlight. A cupboard or dry ingredient store away from ovens and other sources of heat is usually a much better home for it than an open shelf beside your coffee machine.
Once you've opened the pack, close it properly after every use.
And always use a clean, completely dry spoon or scoop. Introducing moisture is one of the easiest ways to turn a lovely free-flowing powder into a clumpy mess.
Does blue spirulina need to be refrigerated?
Usually, no.
For everyday café, bakery or home use, a cool, dry cupboard is generally the more practical choice. Refrigeration can actually introduce another problem: condensation.
If a cold pack is repeatedly opened in a warm, humid room, moisture can condense inside or around it. If you do keep blue spirulina refrigerated for a particular reason, leave the sealed pack to come back towards room temperature before opening it.
The important things are temperature, light and, especially, moisture — not simply making the powder as cold as possible.
How long does blue spirulina last?
Check the best-before date on your pack. That's the shelf life you should use for the product you've actually bought.
How you treat it after opening still matters. Leaving the pack open in a humid kitchen, repeatedly exposing it to steam or storing it somewhere hot and sunny isn't going to do a natural pigment any favours.
Stored properly, you shouldn't need to race through an opened pack. Just keep it sealed between uses and stay within the date on the label.
What about the colour?
Phycocyanin is a natural pigment, and prolonged exposure to heat and light isn't ideal for it.
That doesn't mean you need to handle blue spirulina like a laboratory reagent. It means don't leave the bag sitting in direct afternoon sun or next to an oven all day.
A dark cupboard and a properly closed pack solve most of the problem.
If you're buying a larger pack
If you're moving from a 50 g trial pack to 500 g or 1 kg, think about how frequently you'll actually open it.
For a busy café using blue spirulina every day, that's hardly an issue. If you'll only use it occasionally, take what you need and close the main pack promptly rather than leaving it open throughout prep.
And if you're buying for commercial production and need the formal shelf-life, storage or batch specifications, the current product specification and COA are available from us on request.
FAQ
Where should I store blue spirulina?
Keep it sealed, cool, dry and out of direct sunlight. Use a clean, dry spoon and keep moisture out of the pack.