Infested Flour! | Imamother

Log in / Sign Up

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following My Posts Bookmarks

Private Messages Advanced Search Rules New User Guide FAQ Advertise Contact Us

Forum -> Household Management -> Kosher Kitchen

Infested Flour!

1 2 3 4 Next

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

Motek

Sun, Sep 17 2006, 8:06 pm

Warning: flour is infested

I saw it myself when I sifted flour last week and saw wiggly worms.

I heard that a ready-made pie crust had worms in it ... ugh

ShiraMiri

Sun, Sep 17 2006, 8:08 pm

I keep my flour and sugar in the freezer. Helps to keep the nasties away.

su7kids

Sun, Sep 17 2006, 8:10 pm

I have big hard plastic tubs which I keep mine in, with tight lids.

chocolate moose

Sun, Sep 17 2006, 8:12 pm

gross.

I got an electric sifter when I got the bread machine.

TzenaRena

Sun, Sep 17 2006, 8:26 pm

I've been sifting my flour for a long time now. But, I've heard that some sifters are better than others, and I wonder if mine is adequate. Where can the most fine sifter be obtained that would fulfill all stringencies? (hopefully without costing an arm and a leg!)

Motek

Sun, Sep 17 2006, 9:08 pm

su7kids wrote:

I have big hard plastic tubs which I keep mine in, with tight lids.

I don't think that will help Confused

Marney has the right idea - keep it in the fridge or freezer.

Tefila

Sun, Sep 17 2006, 9:12 pm

Quote:

I heard that a ready-made pie crust had worms in it ... ugh

TzenaRena

Sun, Sep 17 2006, 9:17 pm

How do you hear that a pie crust hs worms in it? You either see it or find it yourself, or hear that someone else found it. That can't mean that all pie doughs of the same brand are infested!

Occasionally, anything can get infested.

chocolate moose

Sun, Sep 17 2006, 10:15 pm

sure.

I've seen bugs fly out of bags of potato chips and in cereal...barley....even hydroponic lettuce.

you have to check out everything you put in your mouth

sarahd

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 5:40 am

SaraYehudis wrote:

Where can the most fine sifter be obtained that would fulfill all stringencies? (hopefully without costing an arm and a leg!)

It might not cost an arm and a leg, but it just might wear out your arm - these very fine sifters take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get through a bag of flour. What you're looking for is called a "Bnei Brak" sifter. You can certainly get it in E.Y., or possibly in Boro Park as well.

Question for the forum: If you found worms in the flour you were sifting, would you throw the flour out, or would you use it? I found worms recently in a bag I was sifting (which made me glad that I'm about the only person in the community who sifts flour). I sifted the flour twice again, found nothing more, and used the flour. My husband was revolted when he heard about it. I said it's over bal tashchis to throw it away.

shalhevet

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 5:47 am

Keeping flour in the fridge (3 days) or the freezer (indefinitely) only helps if it was bug-free in the first place. So you can sift quantities and store it in the freezer. But if it's straight from the store, that won't help.

In EY you have to sift flour. The sifter used by bnei Torah is called a napat-meshi in Hebrew, so maybe someone can send or import one. AFAIK if you have used one of these sifters then you can use the flour, because any worms are left in the sieve.

mali

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 8:03 am

sarahd wrote:

Question for the forum: If you found worms in the flour you were sifting, would you throw the flour out, or would you use it? I found worms recently in a bag I was sifting (which made me glad that I'm about the only person in the community who sifts flour). I sifted the flour twice again, found nothing more, and used the flour. My husband was revolted when he heard about it. I said it's over bal tashchis to throw it away.

If you see three worms in the same bag, it's recommended to throw it away. Same applies to nuts, grains etc.

sarahd

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 8:10 am

It was only two worms...

shalhevet

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 8:27 am

sarahd wrote:

It might not cost an arm and a leg, but it just might wear out your arm - these very fine sifters take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get through a bag of flour.

Tip: Use a cup or glass to move the flour more quickly through the sieve. You can also buy a sieve with a kind of wheel attached which does it even quicker (although a lot more expensive Smile

). Now they even have electric ones which fit onto a mixer. (a lot, lot more expensive Very Happy

)

chocolate moose

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 9:59 am

Mummyof6, that's not true about the freezer. If it's frozen it's fine....maybe your freezer isn't particularly cold.

Stuff bought perfectly fine at the store and not stored in the freezer can have stuff crawl into it and hatch, or whatever was already (thast you couldn't see before) in there can hatch.

mali

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 10:21 am

SaraG wrote:

Mummyof6, that's not true about the freezer. If it's frozen it's fine....maybe your freezer isn't particularly cold.

SaraG, what mummyof6 said is definitely true. If the flour you bought was already infested, freezing it won't help. Frozen bugs are non-kosher, AFAIK.
I have the sifter with the turning "wheel" inside, and an electric sifter (which I'm not particularly happy with). Both have very fine holes. I use the electric one only for large quantities of flour, which I then freeze. We go through at least 10 kilos of flour a month. This month probably 18 kilos.

chocolate moose

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 10:52 am

What I said was also true.

I have seen bugs come out regardless.

mali

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 11:54 am

SaraG wrote:

What I said was also true.

I have seen bugs come out regardless.

I'm sorry, but after reading and rereading this thread, I still do not understand your post. Did you read what mummyof6 wrote, or did you just try bashing her without even bothering to read the whole thing?

chocolate moose

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 12:00 pm

Why do you think the worst of me?

hila

Mon, Sep 18 2006, 12:02 pm

I get my flour the day it is ground ( a group of us do a bulk order once a month and the health food store delivers 50kg ) . And it goes straight into the freezer. So I do not seive it.

It is 70% whole wheat - from Zmora.

Other flour - on the odd accasion I use packet flour - I sift in the fine sifter.
( my fine sifter worked better before my 11 year old used it for straining his home made grape juice in it !! - "but it is parev Ima ")

However anything can get weevils bugs and stuff and I would throw out a package if I found live animals in it. Of we find them in old popcorn, or barley left out. I keep barley and grains in teh freezer too

Hila

Page 1 of 4

1 2 3 4 Next