I buy large (huge) bags of flour at Sam's, but have no freezer space (just the little one my fridgy came with). Usually by the time I'm 1/2 to 3/4 done, it gets mothy bugs in it. Where are they coming from? As this is ground, I doubt they're being born in it. Are they bad for me? We as a population eat quite a bit of insect matter in our day to day diet, and I'm not particularly sqeamish, all things considered. If I just pick out the bugs I can see, am I correct in assuming that the remainder (pieces parts and smaller life-stages) are essentially harmless protein? Any opinions? (as if I could stop you guys!)

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 05, 2000

Answers

I'm a little more squeamish - I'd at least use a flour sifter to get out the big chunks!

I've stored flour in 1/2 gallon canning jars and also gallon glass jars that I got from a lady that worked at the kitchen at school - it needs to have seal type material on the lid to keep the critters out. You might try a five gallon food safe bucket for storing it, but I don't know if even that would keep the meal moths out. Tupperware and plastic bags don't even slow them down, it seems.

Good luck - and Bon Appetite'!!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), September 05, 2000.

That's why the flour sifter was invented. They won't harm you.

Some moths have eggs that will survive some grinding procedures, but most of the moths in modern flour come from eggs laid in the flour between when it was ground and when it's bagged. You might want to sift and repackage the four when you buy it. If you can get dry ice cheap, put a walnut size chunk of it in a five gallon bucket and pour the flour over it. Then put the lid on, but not quite tight. Let it set long enough for the dry ice to sublimate and them seal it. That will remove all of the oxigen from the flour and kill the moths.

If you could put it in smaller bags and rotate then through the freezer, that will kill them as well. The eggs will survive freezaing, but will hatch soon after they warm back up. Refreezing will kill the resulting grubs while they are unnoticibly small.

-- paul (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), September 05, 2000.

I agree -- I've never gotten the moths in white flour (which ought to tell you something about the food value of white flour!!), but a fifty pound bag of whole wheat flour always gets moths in it before I can use it up. I just sieve them out and use the flour -- and if I'm baking bread to take to dinner at church, I don't tell anyone that I've sieved moths out of it!!! It makes me feel better, though, to know that I'm not the only one who does this and then uses the flour!!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), September 05, 2000.

I've never admitted to sifting out the critters but it hasnt kilt anyone yet. Now this probably wouldnt work in high humidity places but I put bay leaves on the bottom and top of my flour and meal. I get white plastic frosting buckets from Wal=mart to store it in. Each will hold 25lbs. Never had a bug at all. I sometimes have to sift out the bay leaves but it works here in Tn. The prize for finding a bay leaf in your bread or cornbread and complaining is having to do the dishes. I used to get moths in rice because we didnt use it as fast but the leaves have stopped that. Blessings Peggy

-- Peggy (wclpc@cookeville.com), September 06, 2000.

I just laughed when I read this thread. I'm pleased to see I'm not the only one who does this. I figure what's a little extra protein. Actually when you think about it, what we eat is really a culture thing that we have learned. Plenty of cultures eat insects such as locusts and grubs, etc. as a regular part of their diets. When I was freezing my six bushels of corn this weekend my girlfriend couldn't shuck the corn because the tips had corn borers on them so we agreed that I would shuck them and cut of the tips and then she would take off the remaining silks and I blanched the cobs and she took the kernels off. It worked out well but everytime I got too close to her with a wormy ear of corn she would get grossed out. I told her I would break her in as a country gal one of these days.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), September 06, 2000.

fyi your government is helping you keep safe as they only allow 500mg of rodent sxxt in one pound of flour. as has been noted many cultures eat insects whole in some of their food. i don't think a little ground into our flour will hurt us. i would however base this on the amount of critters in the flour. i hate to throw anything out that can still be used. even if i really thought that there was just to many for me to eat i would bake dog bones or something to use it up. gail

-- gail missouri ozarks (gef123@hotmail.com), September 07, 2000.

I don't buy things in the huge amounts that some of you do, but anything that will attract bugs, like flour, sweets, cereal, etc., I put in my fridge ~ not the freezer. Haven't had any bugs nor droppings in all the years I've been doing this.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), September 07, 2000.

In Pakistan they call those little mealy bugs in flour "susseri", which is, literally, "little mother-in-laws"! Just so's you know how to curse them...

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), September 08, 2000.

I agree with the others, the bugs will not hurt you, but they are yucky. I use bay leaves in everything, flour, rice, beans, storing clothes, etc.......... never had any bugs. Buy the bay leaves at a natural food store in bulk, much cheeper than in the grocery store. GL

-- Tina (clia88@newmexico.com), September 11, 2000.

Yes, I've used bay leaves too and they seem to work well...only don't forget to pick them out before you bake with the flour!!! (Speaking from experience..OOps! :-)

-- Kelly (beercat@nycap.rr.com), September 12, 2000.

Before Y2K I bought up several hundred pounds of four in bulk. I put the flour in mylar bags and included several oxygen absorber packets. The flour has been good for two years. (I recently just used the last of it.) It was not always kept in controlled temperatures because we moved it from Alaska to Colorado and then to Montana. It has been stored in everything from freezing cold to hmid and hot. The mylar bags are not expensive and can be used over and over. You can just keep cutting the tops off and re-sealing them until there is not bag left. You can also cut them down and seal around all four edges making little packets for food or other items you want to protect from moisture and bugs.

-- Tammy Hall (gregandtammy@interbel.net), September 13, 2000.