I threw a real 'girlie' this evening :o In my time I've eaten allsorts of strange things, but they were DED and prepared for eating and anyway I'd chosen to try them.....these little moving black/brown thingies in the decanted bag of recently bought plain flour from Aldi into the (fortunately) capped container in the kitchen were definitely alive and most definitely unexpected :o
What were they? (I write 'were' because by now they're well-and-truly dedded by suffocation in one of those plastic bags with NO holes in it ;D).
I think they could be flour beetles. Use to get them alot when I lived in Canada, due to the humid summers etc
http://www.northampton.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=474&pageNumber=4
:o ;D
I had EXACTLY the same thing happen to me a few years ago with a 9p bag of Aldi flour. I went back to the shop with it (OH took fit and skulked in the car park!) I asked to speak to the manager, who told me they were normal.
I will not say exactly what I said, but roughly translated, said it was not normal for me to find black crawling things in my flour. Upshot was that I demanded compensation and suggested that £5 was not unreasonable, the alternative was me taking it to Trading Standards. Got some olive oil and other bits and never bought their flour again.
Moral of the story: take it back and complain!!
;)
Sounds like weevils. Probably worth contacting the environmental health authorities as there are likely to be other bags like it that need to be taken off the shelves/recalled.
ROFL @ Katy......things in your modest bag of flour and you get OLIVE OIL as compensation? Yeah.....(lets see the buggas swim through that) ;D
Weevils Kathryn.....that's what I was trying to remember but posted here before googling...thing is, I wrote 'recently bought' ie I couldn't remember, but within the past 4 weeks I'd say, but certainly not yesterday.....so, no, I'm not thinking I could make a fuss. Not that I'm against making a fuss ;D and if it have been in a sealed tub of Homepride flour, fr'instance, I'd certainly do it.
;D
Yep, Weevils, that's what the manager said was "normal"
Not normal in McDougalls as far as I know!!
;)
They wont do you any harm.
I lived in Hong Kong for three years and you couldnt buy flour without them in and Im still around to tell the tale.
Extra protein ;D
i dont know if treatment has changed but it certainly used to be that most/all flour had weevil eggs or what ever they are in it,
keep all flour in tupperware and you wont have to throw it all when one lot hatches
lbb
Haha this brings back memories of a couple who didn't get on.....the woman opened a bag of flour to find it crawling with weevils. I mean....really bad.
She baked a load of bread to supplement the gun dogs food. The husband staggered in from the pub and helped himsefl to most of the freshly baked bread.
No they dont hurt you, so he came to no harm. He never knew, she had a giggle though. ;D ;D ;D
Yep, weevils! I've found them in flour before and simply sieved them out. Choosing not to benefit from the crunchy added protein, but it didn't bother me particularly.
What I liked a lot less was a bad infestation of food moths. The moths themselves aren't horrid, just little straw-coloured moths, like clothes moths. But their dear babies are little white caterpillars with dark heads, and look like maggots! Ugh! It's just amazing what they can get into once you have an infestation - they can eat through polythene bags into flour and grains, they can get under the lids of tins - phenomenal stuff. They leave tell-tale traces of dusty webby stuff, I suppose it's to do with a larval stage or something. You have to transfer everything into ring-sealed jars in the end...
Funny though, how we go 'yukkk!' to insects but don't mind eating prawns and other crustaceans?
At least it means the pesticide residues are low...
In India, we used to hold the slices of Bread against the light to find them - & pick them out.
The best bits, hey, Tim? :)
Lishka - keep your flour in the fridge - or freezer if you have space. That was the advice I got when I had the same problem a couple of years ago. Not had any problems since.
Tricia
Note to self......NEVER buy Aldi flour!!!!
cj :)
First, thanks Lauren for the link - very informative and not a little amusing...Tribolium Confusum (Confused Flour Beetle) ::) ;D, that's what they were. Couldn't make it up, could you? Mind you, as they can also be found in milk chocolate :o, reckon they really are confused - or, at least, of a not discerning palate ;D
And Tricia, thanks for the advice to keep further supplies in the fridge. The site says that they won't develop or breed at temps under 18'c. I don't use a lot of flour, so a small quantity in a container in the fridge will be the way to go.
And no, I won't be buying my replacement stock at Aldi..
I wouldn't blame Aldi flour in particular. I had this a few years ago in a big brand flour. Had a fit and complained to the company concerned and got a load of vouchers in apology.
They also sent a leaflet explaining that these bugs are really common in flour, books, paper, etc. Totally harmless apparently (but not very appetising). They recommended that if you store your flour in a Tupperware container or alternatively wrap it in plastic bags, you will be OK. I have done this for the last few years and not seen any since.
You still check everytime you use flour though ;)
The little black insects originally come from the flour bag! They breed in the paste that joins the bag together. An easy solution is to put your flour in plastic bags and tie with a twisty; a bit of a drag but it will stop them from infecting other things in your cupboard if they are present in the flour bag in the first place.
They are very common in flour bags but you usually use the flour up before they get time to develop and spread.
PS I am new to this site and am looking forward to learning from all of you; I've had an allotment for nearly 10 years but do not cultivate it to its best capacity so will look for lots of hints and tips in the future.
The information on propogating sweet potatoes looks interesting and I am going to give it a try!
Can I start now in October or is it too early?
hiya, pamela, welcome to a4a ;D
thanks for the tip about the flour ;D
Welcome aboard Pamela
Hello Pamela - sorry I can't help about propagating sweet tatties, but I've got some recipes for cooking them 8)
Fortunately I decant all bagged foodstuffs into containers, because my kitchen can be quite damp, so the infestation was contained to just that batch of flour bought from Aldi >:( ;D
If it's weevils they are NOT A PROBLEM!!!
I was brought up on flour, breakfast cereal with weevils and they were also in my children's rusks etc when they were babies. we all survived.
You need to remember to sieve the flour just b efore you use it, not the whole lot together, because the eggs in it will produce more and you'll hav e to sieve again.