I falsely convicted Archer Farms!
 

Now I feel bad. I posted here that the Archer Farms organic pasta sauce had
a bad taste to it. It may not be that at all. To this sauce I added an
additional can of plain tomato sauce and some Italian seasoning. I now
believe the culprit was the Italian seasoning.

I normally buy the cheap stuff from the drugstore. Costs about a dollar for
a small container. Failing that, I get McCormick or whatever they have at
the grocery store. If possible I will get an organic brand but I find it
difficult to get that particular seasoning in organic. I have found it a
few times though.

I do use a LOT of Italian seasoning. I probably use that as much as I do
salt and pepper, if not more. The only thing I might use more of is
parsley. I always try to buy large containers of parsley so was overjoyed
when I found a large container of Italian seasoning at Costco for little
money. I believe it was the McCormick brand, or if not that, at least a
brand I was familiar with. I bought it.

Well the other day I opened the container of seasoning to use it in
something else and noticed a really bad musty/moldy aroma. Aha! I think we
have the culprit. Alas, I had put a tiny sprinkle of it into my sauce
before I noticed this. Apparently it wasn't enough to mess up the taste of
the food. I opted for some plain parsley and oregano in the sauce and it
was fine.

I then looked at the container to see what the problem might be. And sure
enough it was different. Tuscan style! It contained both sage and garlic.
I do not like garlic in my Italian seasoning. When I lived in NY, I used to
hear people say that certain foods tasted like cheap Italian seasoning. And
sure enough the stuff you got in the drugstores there did contain garlic. I
bought it a few times and hated it. Here, there is no garlic in it. And
none in what I usually buy. I don't know if there is sage in what I usually
buy, but if there is, there must be a lot less of it. I really do believe
that the sage is the culprit because I remember someone saying on a cooking
show that you have to be careful with it. If you use too much your food
will have a musty odor.

I have since replaced my seasoning and the new stuff is fine. Now if I had
just not screwed up and bought that Italian style Beef Au Jus. I can't
stand that stuff. I normally buy the plain. The grocery store had some
sort of special and I can't remember the particulars but I had to buy four
packages to get the good deal. They had one chicken, one turkey and the two
beef. They also had a Pork Au Jus. Angela likes that but my husband and I
do not. Angela and I gagged down the beef night before last and there is
one package remaining. I am thinking lunch for my husband. He might not
notice. Right? Well, he is Italian...