Page 23
P a u z a
2 0 0 5
Insects cont...
as walnuts and wheat grains,
but are my most common
offender. As for the weevils,
I bought a package of brown
rice and I thought they were
just the darker grains of rice.
Oops.
Packaging - The flimsier the
packaging, the more likely
you are to find bugs. When I
find bugs, they're usually in
items in the "store brand"
clear unlabeled baggies.
However, I have also found
them in factory-packaged
goods, such as the abovementioned brown rice. Also
worthy of note is that the rice
was purchased at a wellknown "American-style" grocery store. Bugs are not a
problem limited to the corner
prodav!
Spiderwebs - Larvae leave a
trail of spiderweb-like stuff in
their wake. In addition to
looking for the web-stuff
directly, I suggest you do the
"Crazy Crumb Test." The
web-stuff clings to loose material (like crumbs and
flakes), causing them to do
strange things like levitate,
wobble and dangle. If the
crumbs do not respond normally to gravity, then you
probably have bugs (although
sometimes static is the culprit).
3. Fort-Knoxify your kitchen.
Even if you thoroughly inspect your purchases, there is
still a chance that you will
find a bug or two in your
cabinets. Your goals should
be to contain any bugs in
their host food and to keep
any freelance bugs out of
your bugless food. I highly
recommend transferring vulnerable food to sturdier containers, such as jars, Tupperware and Ziploc bags.
(Finally, the ajvar from your
host family has a purpose!)
For you cheapskates out
there, look for foods that
come in reusable Tupperware-esque containers, such
as olives, margarine, peanut
butter or that Eurocreme
goop. The medical kits also
have some great containers.
Additionally, if you have any
foods that are valuable (i.e.
expensive or imported), put
them in sturdier containers to
protect them. If you do not
have such containers readily
available, double bag and
make sure that the bags are
securely closed.
4. Debug your kitchen.
If you follow the above recommendations, then any bugs
in the kitchen shouldn't get
very far. If you find an infested food product, throw it
away (if it was cheap) or sort
through it (if you have the
patience) and wash the remaining bug-free food. Inspect any neighboring food
products for signs of bugs, as
well as the walls of the cabinets (these suckers like to
travel). Remove and inspect
everything, if you feel so
inclined.
5. Antagonize ants.
Ants are more of a springtime
problem, so commit the following tips to memory. Some
household ant deterrents are
cinnamon and cloves. If you
can locate the point of entry
for the ants, sprinkle whole
cloves (one every couple
inches) or cinnamon in that
area. If you cannot find the
point of entry, at least safeguard your kitchen by sprinkling cloves or cinnamon
around the food that you
want to protect (e.g. around
the edges of your cabinet). I
had ants of mysterious origin
in my kitchen but they never
got into my food, thanks to
lines of cloves on my shelves
and cinnamon in the cracks
between my cabinets from
where the ants seemed to
emerge.
This article probably makes
me seem crazy and/or
squalid. The jury is still out
on the "crazy" charge, but I
keep a pretty clean house. If
bugs can get into my kitchen,
they can get into yours.
Unless, of course, you subsist
on a steady diet of canned
meat paste and 7 Days croissants. I don't know about you,
but I'll keep taking my
chances with the bugs. Bon
appetit!