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So I bought a ton of flour about a year ago, zip-lock bagged it, and set it in the deep freeze becuse I read that will kill of any bugs wanting to breed.
The other night while talking with my BIL, he said he read something about TWO bug birthing stages, and that if you want to insure no bugs hatch in the flour, after the first deep freeze, you need to pull it out, bring it to room temperature, then refreeze again to stop this second birthing of bugs.
Does anyone know if this is true?
Thanks!
are you saying all flour comes seeded with bugs and eggs? Having grown up in the south we always froze flour and cornmeal indefinitely and never once had a bug problem.
I've never heard of that... I HAVE heard of certain insects that will hatch only after a frost cycle but not the vermin type that infest grain.
We live in the South and I keep my flours/cornmeal in the deep freezer to store (bonus it keeps the freezer FILLED making it cheaper to use the freezer, saves $$$ on electric too!)
My "in use" flour I keep in a canister in my kitchen and never have had bugs in that after freezing.
Hmmm... it's reasonable, but it's not anything I've heard. I'm assuming that you bring it out of the freezer and use it up within days?
I'll confess that I've NEVER frozen any grains, rice, flour, pasta. I just don't have the room in the freezers, and I generally buy large quantities at once and then pack them in mylar and with Oxygen absorbers.
But I've also only ONCE had a pantry moth infestation, and that was when I bought some saltine crackers at a "scratch and dent" store. They must have been loaded! <yuck!>
But whether it's our climate (for sure, having cold temps for several months helps break the life cycle of many insects) or what, but it's just not common to bring home foods with "outriders" here.
If it were, I'd find a way to freeze everything before storing it. But I seriously doubt I'd do it in two stages.
What I'd suggest is that you bring a bag of flour to room temperature, put it in a glass jar and start baking with it as usual. Watch for any hint of insect activity (the glass jar will make that easy). IF you're unlucky enough that some very sturdy insects show up in the sealed jar after a few days, then you might want to consider "thawing and refreezing" your flour. I strongly suspect it won't happen.
Summerthyme
when we had extra freezers we kept all of our "working" supplies in there, and then bring out some as we need it.
since down to only one freezer, have had to put the 25- 50lb bags on a dedicated shelf, bring them out and pack into buckets to make room for the next freeze treatment.
I go through a lot of flour & grains, and have never had any bugs show up after a first freezing.
the worst culprit for pantry moths seemed to be foods bought in cardboard boxes from chinamart..
it happened so frequently it started making me wonder if they were doing it on purpose.