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Weevils in Flour. One for Stevec67?

Mullardman

Mullardman

Moderately extreme...
I don't know if they are technically 'Weevils', 'Beetles' or whatever.. but over the last few years we have sometimes found stored flour to be infested with little black creatures. No more than perhaps 1-1.5mm long... narrow bodied, not too quick moving.

We store flour in its original bag, inside an airtight 'Tupperware' bin, in a normal kitchen cupboard. Thing is we really don't use much Wheat flour and I only use it to make a roux for my celebrated cheese sauce, maybe 4 or 5 times a year. Mrs Mull insists on buying 3lb bags of flour, because she says it's uneconomical to buy smaller. I've pointed out that throwing most of it away due to 'weevils' isn't especially economical either...

I suppose these little things are pretty harmless when there are maybe a dozen or so in a 3lb bag..I suspect many wouldn't notice them unless the bag was absolutely 'heaving' with them.. but they aren't exactly appealing. I wouldn't be surprised if food manufacturers ignore them and just see them as a bit of added protein in their products. I doubt they'd be spotted in most finished products.

So. Questions.

1. Are these things endemic in flour supplies?
2. Do they arrive in the flour.. or on the packaging.. or both?
3. Does method of storage affect their prevalence? For e.g., should the flour be transferred from bag to a container.
4. Would storage in a sealed container in the freezer kill the little sods? Would it adversely affect the flour?
5 Any other storage tips?

Finally, as a test, I've just put about one tablespoon of clean, fresh flour from a new bag into the microwave at 900w for 1 minute. The flour came out hot, but not visibly altered. I didn't bother trying to cook anything with it. I strongly suspect any 'weevils' would not have survived this.

Over to you Steve!!
 
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Mullardman said:
. Are these things endemic in flour supplies?
2. Do they arrive in the flour.. or on the packaging.. or both?
3. Does method of storage affect their prevalence? For e.g., should the flour be transferred from bag to a container.
4. Would storage in a sealed container in the freezer kill the little sods? Would it adversely affect the flour?
5 Any other storage tips?
Click to expand...

1: Yes.

2: In the flour. Freshly printed paper is remarkably sterile.

3: No, see #2. But a sealed container may be more convenient if you don't use the flour quickly.

4: Yes, and no. Stick it in the freezer overnight when you buy it, it kills the little bastards. If you want to keep it in the freezer, just let it warm to room temperature before using, or adjust your proving times.

5: Clean, dry and airtight.
 
Rob998 said:
Stick it in the freezer overnight when you buy it, it kills the little bastards. If you want to keep it in the freezer, just let it warm to room temperature before using, or adjust your proving times.
Click to expand...

Surely that achieves nothing of value; they will still be in the flour, you will still eat them. Cooking them would kill them too, the upshot being dead insects in your food either way. The choice is really how fresh do you want your insects?

PS Ugggh. I don’t do fancy cooking so have never bought flour, but this implies they might be in bread, pasta etc...
 
Chill MB!! Your flour.. or even your beard.. might have them.. and you'd not notice. They're the size of a full stop on your screen.
 
Tony L said:
Surely that achieves nothing of value; they will still be in the flour, you will still eat them. Cooking them would kill them too, the upshot being dead insects in your food either way. The choice is really how fresh do you want your insects?

PS Ugggh. I don’t do fancy cooking so have never bought flour, but this implies they might be in bread, pasta etc...
Click to expand...

With any luck, if the flour is relatively fresh at purchase, the weevil will still be at egg stage, so teeny tiny. Freezing the flour kills the eggs.

Obvs if the flour isn't fresh, all bets are off, but freezing will still kill the larvae, and considering their diet, they're only yucky because of their creepy crawlyness and our western sensibilities.

Of course, once they get to the size Mull is describing, they need considerable wrangling and butchering before they're fit for the bbq/wok.

They're probably quite a benign and green source of protein.
 
Rob998 said:
With any luck, if the flour is relatively fresh at purchase, the weevil will still be at egg stage, so teeny tiny. Freezing the flour kills the eggs.

Obvs if the flour isn't fresh, all bets are off, but freezing will still kill the larvae, and considering their diet, they're only yucky because of their creepy crawlyness and our western sensibilities.

Of course, once they get to the size Mull is describing, they need considerable wrangling and butchering before they're fit for the bbq/wok.

They're probably quite a benign and green source of protein.
Click to expand...

:D:D:D:D:D:D Yep. A wrastlin down that last big critter was a might tough.. but I bettered the Goddamed freak!!!

Seriously..I wish I'd never asked. I found about 6 of these near microscopic little sods in almost 2.5Kgs of flour we've had in a bin for at least 3 months. They are now all consigned to the food waste recycling and the bin is being bleached.

I will strongly recommend to Mrs Mull that she only buy the 1lb ( or metric EQ) bags in future.. and that we freeze them prior to longer term storage. Assorted web sites recommend between 4 and 7 days to kill all eggs and larvae.

@ Marchbanks. Mankind has waged war with unwanted companions, from moulds and fungi, to bacteria and viruses, to mice, rats, cockroaches, fleas, lice etc., etc., since the dawn of time. Acquiring them is pretty normal.. Keeping them around is less so..

I suspect you need to acquaint yourself with the reality of food.. ;)

Incidentally, most of the carnivores among us seem quite happy to accept that most poultry and possibly other meat is contaminated with assorted bacteria which need killing in the cooking process...

'Same difference'.. as they say.
 
No Freeze I

tumblr_n4s0xmdXQX1qcmlw4o1_250.gif
 
Tony L said:
Surely that achieves nothing of value; they will still be in the flour, you will still eat them. Cooking them would kill them too, the upshot being dead insects in your food either way. The choice is really how fresh do you want your insects?
Click to expand...

It will stop the reproductive cycle.
 
Being the son of a proud baker, I was taught early on that flour should always be sifted before use, no matter what you do with it, in order to avoid lumps. Would this not solve the problem ?
 
I have no idea if the regulations have changed, but maybe 20 years ago, regulations with regards to flour included limits for lots of things, including rat hairs, and the limit was not zero.

People seem oblivious to how wheat is grown, harvested, stored, transported etc. None of it is vermin-proof.

I have loads of those bugs here. So what, extra protein, they haven't killed me yet, and as far as sieving them out, a flour sieve is JUST too fine to easily get them out from things like flaked grains, but the other way around, will get them out of flour, mostly.

They certainly aren't weevils though. I can't find it at the moment, but there is or was a UK website that told you all about pretty much any household and garden pest, its life history and how to control them. Very interesting. Anyone searching, the web pages had a greenish background/border.
 
Mullardman said:
I don't know if they are technically 'Weevils', 'Beetles' or whatever.. but over the last few years we have sometimes found stored flour to be infested with little black creatures. No more than perhaps 1-1.5mm long... narrow bodied, not too quick moving.

We store flour in its original bag, inside an airtight 'Tupperware' bin, in a normal kitchen cupboard. Thing is we really don't use much Wheat flour and I only use it to make a roux for my celebrated cheese sauce, maybe 4 or 5 times a year. Mrs Mull insists on buying 3lb bags of flour, because she says it's uneconomical to buy smaller. I've pointed out that throwing most of it away due to 'weevils' isn't especially economical either...

I suppose these little things are pretty harmless when there are maybe a dozen or so in a 3lb bag..I suspect many wouldn't notice them unless the bag was absolutely 'heaving' with them.. but they aren't exactly appealing. I wouldn't be surprised if food manufacturers ignore them and just see them as a bit of added protein in their products. I doubt they'd be spotted in most finished products.

So. Questions.

1. Are these things endemic in flour supplies?
2. Do they arrive in the flour.. or on the packaging.. or both?
3. Does method of storage affect their prevalence? For e.g., should the flour be transferred from bag to a container.
4. Would storage in a sealed container in the freezer kill the little sods? Would it adversely affect the flour?
5 Any other storage tips?

Finally, as a test, I've just put about one tablespoon of clean, fresh flour from a new bag into the microwave at 900w for 1 minute. The flour came out hot, but not visibly altered. I didn't bother trying to cook anything with it. I strongly suspect any 'weevils' would not have survived this.

Over to you Steve!!
Click to expand...
Look on it as free extra protein.
 
Tony L said:
I don’t do fancy cooking so have never bought flour
Click to expand...

LOL. little did you know you were so totally on board with paris hilton.

btw -- i thought cav already explained why all flour-based cooking was anything but fancy, but rather a product of poverty and or 3rd-worldishness.
 
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