I seem to have some uninvited guests in my stored rice. How do I get rid of them ? I hate to pitch the rice, but I will if necessary. HELP !!!

-- reed moore (reed_moore@postmaster.co.uk), August 11, 1999

Answers

Reed:

The insects, alone, are not a problem. They are just coverting the protein and carbs into a more usable form. The thing to worry about is that the conditions that lead to their emergance are also proper for a host of very dangerous fungi. You could freeze the rice and hope for the best. Look for either a black [or worse] a green fungal growth. If that occurs, dum

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), August 11, 1999.

Should continue dump it and not read dum.........

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), August 11, 1999.

Freezing would be one approach. Diatomacious earth another. Just mix it with the rice. Get the food grade DE. There is some information on the web about it.

If you can use the rice in the near future, you can simply wash out the bugs in some salt water, then rinse the rice and cook it up. If insects made grain unusable the race would have become extinct long ago. Although, I will agree, the idea of their being in there takes some getting used to.

Oh yes, you might try microwaving the rice to kill the eggs that may still be in there. I have done this to small amounts of food, but can't testify to its effectiveness on grain for storage. Also, (off the top of my head) have you considered drying it in the oven at about 200 degrees? It seems that would take care of invaders and any moisture the rice may have picked up. Perhaps someone else can comment on that idea? TAZ?

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), August 11, 1999.

Reed:

One note. We eat a lot of rice. We have 10 to 12 kinds on hand. One rice that we have found that never seems to have insect problems [or any other problems for that matter, after more than 1 yr] is the following. BOTAN; Calrose rice; packed for JFC International inc, S. San Francisco,CA 94080. It is Milled Rice, coated with Corn Syrup. It seems to last forever and works really well in white rice recipes.

Best Wishe

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), August 11, 1999.

Well, I can't resist: someone on Cory Hamasaki's list suggested saving buggy rice and beans -- and giving it to those DWGI scoffers (such as that know-it-all brother-in-law) when they come begging post y2k....if they're really hungry, they'll eat it anyway.

Waste not, want not, eh?

Anita Evangelista

-- Anita Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), August 11, 1999.

Reed,

Just curious, what part of the country do you live in - humid climate? I haven't had any bugs in here in dryville.

-- @ (@@@.@), August 11, 1999.

I packed mine in CO2

I bought a little ounce scale a walmart, and picked up some dry ice for about $1 pound.

4 oz in the bottom of a 6 gallon bucket, fill with grain, beans, etc...

Lay the lid on top, but don't tap it down tight, then hammer it down about 4-5 hours later. (don't lift the lid off to check, - just hammer it down...

This will kill any critters living in there now, and kill anything that is bold enough to hatch out. CO2 is not a poison. (It's the stuff we breathe out). A bucket full of CO2 means not enough oxygen for most things to live.

Best wishes,
Berry

-- Berry Picker (BerryPicking@yahoo.com), August 11, 1999.

It may have been on this forum months ago the same problem was addressed...someone had a Japanese friend that spread a cloth on the ground in the sun and spread the buggy rice on the cloth...come back in a couple of hours - bugs gone! Have not tried this approach personally but I would if I was really hungry.

Good luck with your preparations.

-- Janice (careful@swbell.net), August 12, 1999.

Here in Florida its a constant battle of me and the bugs. I had a 50 # bag of rice. I poured most of it into gallon jars and set on the shelf. There was still about 10# left in the bag and it sat there for several months. Suddenly I realized that the rice in the jars was all buggy. I checked the bag and not a bug. Go figure! I am finding that the best way of storing things are the buckets and gamma lids. Actually the VERY best are the Vittal Vaults. They have a gamma type lid and they are both air and water tight. Actually I am converting some of my stuff into those containers. They will hold 50 to 75# of stuff. I am filling one with bread flour. That way I don't have to always be grinding grain. Currently my rice is in 5 gal buckets with gamma lids and I use bay leaves generously. So far so good. If you are just starting to store your stuff, I recommend that you use the vaults rather than the buckets. If I had it to do all over again, it would all be in the vaults. Hold more, are square and stack tight using less space. The Vittle Vaults can be purchased from USPlastics.com for $31.15 each.

Taz...who is going to check her supplies today!!

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), August 12, 1999.

They add protien to your diet.

-- chicken farmer (chicken-farmer@ y2k.farm), August 12, 1999.

CO2, Carbon Dioxide, is the trick. It will KILL em dead. Other methods either cause them to hibernate or wait till they are roaming about in the grain to kill them. Its cheap and easy. Do it now.

-- ..- (dit@dot.dash), August 12, 1999.

Regarding the idea of gassing with nitrogen by placing dry ice in the bottom of the pail: There is some concern that condensation from the dry ice could create moisture that then allows mold to grow in your grain. Have people who have done this technique w/ the dry ice opened one container after a couple of months to check on contents? Would you please share the results? Shivani

-- Shivani Arjuna (SArjuna@aol.com), August 12, 1999.

what about packing rice in bags with oxygen absorbers, sealing the bags, then placing the sealed bags in five gallon buckets?

what bout 25 lb bags of kidney beans? do they need the same treatment?

how long does white rice keep in it's original 50lb sack, assuming it's kept dry?

-- tangbang (get@yours.now), August 12, 1999.

TIP; THOSE BUGS FLOAT,RICE SINKS.use a strainer to scoop them out ,when you cook them.hehehe It will work.

My rice is stored in buckets in mylar bags with o2s.Oxygen gone no bugs.

-- y2kme1 (y2kme1@hotmail.com), August 13, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

Tassie, the usplastics.com link seems to be only to a company that sells zipper bags, and not the vaults you described. I hoped to get a look at them. Even though they're about three times as costly as five gallon buckets (and much pricier than free buckets from restaurants), I thought they might stuff better into some limited spaces. Also, it occurs to me that they might be more easily disquised, in some situations. For example, could I store them in an office, filling the top few with paper files? (or even the top of each one)

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), August 13, 1999.

Not only have the bugs invaded my rice, I discovered them in my Bisquick tonight! And I store the bisquick far away from the rice, not even in the same cupboard. I'm wondering if I need the whole house fumigated or something, they seem to have taken over :(

-- Kevin (dichron@yahoo.com), August 22, 2003.

i find those bugs to be a headache in belize can any one suggest a kind of chemical treatment or something of that sort?? i have a store and its hard to keep them from being around, i have tried the bay leaf thing, but that is not effective....some one any one tell me what can i do?? can i just freeze all my rice is a freezer??

-- ces tuner (zarees@hotmail.com), November 23, 2003.