Gladys asked about nasty critters in flour. Get rid of the batch that you
have. Once the critters are in there, it's infested and you need to start
clean (some people talk about freezing it and killing the critters, but the
thought of using the flour with frozen dead things is more than I can take.)
Getting critters will sometimes happen when you buy in bulk - often as a
result of how it was stored or that it was stored next to something else
that was infested. This is not to say you shouldn't buy in bulk, but
be aware if this happens more than just occasionally. I'd probably change
stores or begin buying prepackaged flour if this kept happening with bulk.
Now what can you do try to prevent it?
PREVENTION:
Assume you start with a clean, fresh batch. Add several BAY LEAVES to
each container - I do this for beans, grains, etc., also. Cover tightly,
such as in Tupperware as Gladys does. Other ideas: buy large, wide-mouth
water jugs (or sun tea jars). My favorite: buy the 4 pound plastic keg of
Utz fatfree pretzels at Sam's Club and when empty, use the container to
store up to 10 pounds of flour. If all of your flours are tightly sealed
separately from each other, should one container gets critters it will
hopefully not affect the others.
Other people freeze their flour but I don't have enough freezer room, so
I've never done this.
Hope this helps.
Natalie Frankel
natalie.frankel@mixcom.com
Milwaukee, WI