…… Found black beetle things in my stored flour

psychgirl

psychgirl

TB Fanatic
:bwl: Ok I just found itty bitty tiny brown black beetle things in my flour! It’s only a few months old ams been down in the basement.

They’re dead.

Luckily, I do have back up flour in the extra freezer but didn’t have room for any other bags of flour as I’ve been concentrating on meats etc.

Crap! I’m all ready to go for holiday banana bread and cookie baking today too
Can I sift them out and it’ll be ok to bake with lol??

Or is that too gross for gifts? ...I got the hood bag out from the freezer but don’t want to waste the other flour unless I have to.
:)

First time in 22 years living this house this has EVER happened.
 
S

summerthyme

Administrator
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psychgirl said:
:bwl: Ok I just found itty bitty tiny brown black beetle things in my flour! It’s only a few months old ams been down in the basement.

They’re dead.

Luckily, I do have back up flour in the extra freezer but didn’t have room for any other bags of flour as I’ve been concentrating on meats etc.

Crap! I’m all ready to go for holiday banana bread and cookie baking today too
Can I sift them out and it’ll be ok to bake with lol??

Or is that too gross for gifts? ...I got the hood bag out from the freezer but don’t want to waste the other flour unless I have to.
:)

First time in 22 years living this house this has EVER happened.
Click to expand...
Yes, sift them out, don't tell anyone, and your baked goods will be fine! The main reason old recipes called for sifting flour is this, really!

Summerthyme
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
psychgirl said:
:bwl: Ok I just found itty bitty tiny brown black beetle things in my flour! It’s only a few months old ams been down in the basement.

They’re dead.

Luckily, I do have back up flour in the extra freezer but didn’t have room for any other bags of flour as I’ve been concentrating on meats etc.

Crap! I’m all ready to go for holiday banana bread and cookie baking today too
Can I sift them out and it’ll be ok to bake with lol??

Or is that too gross for gifts? ...I got the hood bag out from the freezer but don’t want to waste the other flour unless I have to.
:)

First time in 22 years living this house this has EVER happened.
Click to expand...


If it were me, I'd throw it out. It's the "yuck" factor for me.
 
Greenspode

Greenspode

Veteran Member
psychgirl said:
:bwl: Ok I just found itty bitty tiny brown black beetle things in my flour! It’s only a few months old ams been down in the basement.

They’re dead.

Luckily, I do have back up flour in the extra freezer but didn’t have room for any other bags of flour as I’ve been concentrating on meats etc.

Crap! I’m all ready to go for holiday banana bread and cookie baking today too
Can I sift them out and it’ll be ok to bake with lol??

Or is that too gross for gifts? ...I got the hood bag out from the freezer but don’t want to waste the other flour unless I have to.
:)

First time in 22 years living this house this has EVER happened.
Click to expand...

I'd sift them out and use it.

I am using rice that was stored in buckets in 2004, and it is just fine.

I also used a can of cream of chicken soup in a casserole the other day that expired in 2007. It smelled fine, but was a little dryer than ideal, so it took an extra minute or two to mix it up with the sour cream; it wanted to stay lumpy. It turned out perfect!

I am pretty liberal with what I will use. If it smells good and has no visual signs of spoil, I use it!
 
S

summerthyme

Administrator
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psychgirl said:
I don’t think I can bring myself to use it.
Aren’t there eggs all through the bag now?

I’m going to open the freezer bag and check that one. I use it after sifting...

My kitchen is a floured up mess
Click to expand...
If the beetles are dead, and you don't find any living larvae, it's likely there are no live remnants of anything.

A hint... these days, any insect infestations are often in the *packaging*... they lay eggs on the paper or cardboard, in the seams or under flaps, which then hatch. The larvae chew their way into the packaging, or infest other food products in the pantry. I transfer flour, crackers, etc out of their bags or boxes and store them in mylar or large, resealable containers...

Summerthyme
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
summerthyme said:
If the beetles are dead, and you don't find any living larvae, it's likely there are no live remnants of anything.

A hint... these days, any insect infestations are often in the *packaging*... they lay eggs on the paper or cardboard, in the seams or under flaps, which then hatch. The larvae chew their way into the packaging, or infest other food products in the pantry. I transfer flour, crackers, etc out of their bags or boxes and store them in mylar or large, resealable containers...

Summerthyme
Click to expand...

This is the reason I put everything that could possibly have been infested with critters from the store into my freezers when I get them home. After 2 weeks, I take it out, and transfer to large resealable plastic jugs or canning jars.
 
O

OldAndCrazy

Pureblood Forever
Black Beetles? Yup, the ghetto Fab Four, songs like... 'Da bitch loves it, f yeah, f yeah, f yeah!', 'Hey Dude....how much you want for dat?' and an all time fav..... 'Get Black'.
 
psychgirl

psychgirl

TB Fanatic
summerthyme said:
If the beetles are dead, and you don't find any living larvae, it's likely there are no live remnants of anything.

A hint... these days, any insect infestations are often in the *packaging*... they lay eggs on the paper or cardboard, in the seams or under flaps, which then hatch. The larvae chew their way into the packaging, or infest other food products in the pantry. I transfer flour, crackers, etc out of their bags or boxes and store them in mylar or large, resealable containers...

Summerthyme
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Thank you summer!
You ALL are such a help and calming my heebee jeebies!
I’m just nervous today anyway.
Idk
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
Profit of Doom said:
Had an old cardboard container of oatmeal. Infested with weavers, unopened. Tossed.
Click to expand...

I've only had one thing that was infested with bugs, and that was an unopened, brand new, store bought, jar of dehydrated bell peppers. That thing got tossed very quickly, but not before I wasted a whole pot of spaghetti sauce!
 
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one4freedom

Veteran Member
I would look into buying whole wheat then a grinder if you want long term storage. Also what post 12 by southern breeze said to do although that just kills what is in there, it doesn't remove it. I raise my own wheat, a hard red winter variety. It ends up with chaff and weed seeds but we just try to get most of the extra crap out. A lot of recipes expect a "refined wheat" i.e. most of the components removed like germ etc. So one needs a real whole wheat recipe if you grind your own. A lot of things might work better with white wheat, like pastries. Usually if the product smells and looks normal you are okay to sift the bugs out and use it. Chances are if the bugs are in flour they aren't the type that are harmful to humans unless you are made out of paper machete. :rolleyes:
 
psychgirl

psychgirl

TB Fanatic
one4freedom said:
I would look into buying whole wheat then a grinder if you want long term storage. Also what post 12 by southern breeze said to do although that just kills what is in there, it doesn't remove it. I raise my own wheat, a hard red winter variety. It ends up with chaff and weed seeds but we just try to get most of the extra crap out. A lot of recipes expect a "refined wheat" i.e. most of the components removed like germ etc. So one needs a real whole wheat recipe if you grind your own. A lot of things might work better with white wheat, like pastries. Usually if the product smells and looks normal you are okay to sift the bugs out and use it. Chances are if the bugs are in flour they aren't the type that are harmful to humans unless you are made out of paper machete. :rolleyes:
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Well, maybe.
You, do you, and eat em.
But I’m not giving out banana bug bread to our delivery guys at work for Christmas, for Heaven sakes!
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I threw away a few boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix and then said to myself, have you lost your mind, its added protein. Next time I found that I cooked it anyway and no one noticed anything, actually it didn't show up in the cooked product.

It all comes out in the wash.

God is good all the time

Judy
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
psychgirl said:
Well, maybe.
You, do you, and eat em.
But I’m not giving out banana bug bread to our delivery guys at work for Christmas, for Heaven sakes!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't, either! Wonder if the guys would ever trust anything else you made, and gave to them if they knew what you had done? No, they wouldn't. I wouldn't.
 
S

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
psychgirl said:
Well, maybe.
You, do you, and eat em.
But I’m not giving out banana bug bread to our delivery guys at work for Christmas, for Heaven sakes!
Click to expand...
LOL! I once picked several gallons of wild blackberries. I froze most of them, but made a pie with some of the fresh ones. I don't know what I was paying attention to, but it sure wasn't my baking (we had 4 kids under the age of 7!) Anyway, hubby noticed an odd "crunchiness" to some bites of pie... looking closer, he saw I hadn't removed the little beetles! Oops!

The pie was delicious... and between hubby and the kids, was gone by the end of supper!

Summerthyme
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

TB Fanatic
I remember eating at someone's house several years ago, and she had prepared a pot of home grown purple hull peas. As I was eating, not paying any attention to what I was eating, I noticed that there were more worms than peas in my plate! I was finished eating at that point. Never ate her cooking again.
 
psychgirl

psychgirl

TB Fanatic
SouthernBreeze said:
Bug free?
Click to expand...
Well....

When I found those things I was all in a dither. I’m thinking omg omg and just started dumping it all out!
I’m thinking bugs are all over then I started itching and knocked my all my soft butter in the floor.

My GOOD Land on the Lakes butter, too, :(

I hollered for hub who was getting out of the shower so he comes running naked into the kitchen thinking I’m having a stroke, .... I started hollering, “WE GOT BUGS!!! ...WE GOT BUGS in MY PREPS!!!!

He looked at me, with a blank stare and just looked in the bowl, then looked in the trash and goes, “um, well, ok”....”ew, don’t use it!!”

So, I got out the good flour and kept making new batches but every time the flour looked ok, then.... then more beetle things!!!



I swear on my grandmas grave I thought they were hatching after all of your egg talk, and well, I just started to panic!!! I could NOT figure it out well, on the third batch I noticed something.

I add cinnamon to my bread bread for a little “extra”.... but today I grabbed a bottle I THOUGHT was cinnamon (I got tons) then saw the label .

It was a brand new, never used spice mix called “Cinnamon Chai Chia Seed Blend” or something like that.

Did you all know chia seeds look just like freaking little black brown beetle things???



I bet I threw away 8 lbs of flour. But I saved the butter!
 
psychgirl

psychgirl

TB Fanatic
SouthernBreeze said:
I remember eating at someone's house several years ago, and she had prepared a pot of home grown purple hull peas. As I was eating, not paying any attention to what I was eating, I noticed that there were more worms than peas in my plate! I was finished eating at that point. Never ate her cooking again.
Click to expand...

Omg
Omg
 
T

Terrwyn

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Back when I watched that Mormon polygamy TV program. Main wife was in the basement sifting bugs out of flour.
I never have them but did see them in some organic cornmeal one time.
 
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