Weevils in flour…

[HoneyButterPopcorn]

So I popped on a loaf at stupid o’clock this morning (bread maker, wholemeal, added some chia seeds) and went to put away the bag of flour and noticed some little holes in the bag… bloody weevils!

I could spot a couple in the flour and now I’m pondering whether to throw the loaf or go out and get another bag.

5 flipping hours! It’s due out at 11. Cut my losses or view it as added protein/crunch?

Depends if you like protein bread ?
they do tend to stick in your teeth

I don’t think they will harm you 🤔 Think of it like bush tucker challenge..
But throw the flour away and put the next bag in a sealed container.

I had weevils in arborio rice once and the blighters spread around my pantry cupboard. Everything is in sealed Tupperware now.

Weevils are the best bit. As kids we use to fight over them and we'd get told off for picking them out of the flour before the bread had been baked. Surely we all remember our childhood song

"Bake some bread,
Don't be hasty.
Eat a weevil
Very tasty.
Crunch them down
Yum yum yum
Bake them into a delicious bun"

On a serious note obviously don't eat it.

I’m wondering now… hmmmm. Little feckers. I had an infestation ages ago - even in the Tupperware tubs. Still, it’s better that the black moths a few years back that infested my rice and almost gave me a heart attack - I pulled out a sealed tub from the back of my cupboard and wounded why the rice was black - and moving! 😱

Yeah that sounds like my midterm is really manky and a bio hazard. It’s not, honest. Who’s up for tea and cake chez moi?

I experienced rice weevils recently in Morrisons boil in the bag rice 😬

I would get another bag then put in a Tupperwear box (but they may already be in the flour).

Rice, put in water and they will float to the top and then just scoop them out. I once through a load of expensive basmati rice out, before I was told just to let them drown in water. Then boil!

I have a huge problem at time with insects etc getting into food and its a constant battle at certain times to keep them at bay. I bring a lot of dried food stuffs from the UK and treat them like gold, but even then wrapped in boxes the little buggers still get in. It take me forever to wash and clean veg, Milton tabs are a godsend.

I have mountains and mountains of container's of every shape and size.

Oh Im in a hot country so its a big problem for me with many food stuffs.

Whenever you buy a new bag of flour, pop it in a zip lock bag and in the freezer for 5 days to kill the eggs, then put the flour in a tupperware box. Otherwise you'll just get them hatching inside the box, wondering how on earth they managed to get in there!

Weevils are absolutely tiny, and completely harmless. It's a bit of a psychological thing now you know they're in there, but you won't possibly notice.

Also, I'm pretty sure food standards allow pre-made food to pass H&S regulations with a certain amount of insect contamination in it (something like 60 fragments/loaf of bread), so your shop-bought loaves probably have insects in anyway!

I’d bin the lot and start again!
Years ago, I worked as a nanny for a family and I noticed their big jar of oats was heaving with weevils. I put the whole jar outside and told them about it.
The next day, the jar was back in their cupboard! 🤢 I don’t imagine they’re harmful but it’s still gross!

This

I don’t want the eggs in there in the first place!

Whilst you were kneading the dough were you singing along to Brook Benton's 'The Boll Weevil' song...

Or, alternatively 'Weevil Rock You' by Queen?

I am seriously debating making a new loaf. I feel bad for the weevils.

I have found that putting a couple of loose bay leaves on top of the flour and keeping it in a sealed jar/tub keeps weavils away. I think I'd bin your existing loaf...

I had my first experience of weevils last year. They were in a bag of bird seed and it took me a while to twig what they were all over the floor.
Shortly after that I noticed dead ones in some cups in a cupboard. At first I thought it was a stray tea leaf but no the buggers had legs
They turned out to be like a previous poster escaping from a bag of arborio rice. Yuck.

I would get rid of the flour and any opened packs of cereal etc. They can give you a bit of a tummy ache.
DH was a baker when I first met him in a commercial bakery. If they got weevils they would have to dump entire silos of flour and fumigate the factory.
Wipe your shelves with tea tree oil solution. They don't like it.

Ok for those of you worried - making #2 (new bag of flour purchased). No bugs so far. And #1 came out lovely looking too! The birds don’t seem to mind.

Tiny specks of doubt,
weevils dance in golden crumbs,
unseen guests in loaf

Ode to a Weevil
In the Style of Robert Burns

O wee sleekit, sneakin’ beastie,
Lurkin’ where the loaf is yeasty,
Nane wad ken yer work sae fealty
Aye, till crumbs be crawlin’!
Wi’ tiny jaws ye munch fu’ priestly,
In floury vaults appallin’!

Ye scorn the miller’s muckle clatter,
An’ burrow deep as if nae matter,
Nae fear o’ broom nor baker’s batter—
Ye feast wi’ bold delicht!
Yet dinna think ye’ll aye grow fatter,
For morn shall bring yer plight!

O cruel fate! Yon wifie’s glower—
She flings ye frae her bakehouse bower!
The rolling pin, wi’ deadly power,
Strikes doon yer kin wi’ wrath!
Alas! Ye fell frae fortune’s flower—
Doomed by a housewife’s path!

But weel I ken, in some dark nook,
Another weevil thrawn has took
The very road ye slyly crook—
The cycle spins anew!
For bread an’ beast are linked in book