Has anyone tried microwaving your flours,pastas,rice,etc. to kill bug larvae? I know you can freeze, but microing would be much faster. Steve.

-- steve (steve@NWMo.com), June 22, 1999

Answers

I have tried this without much success.

I was unable to get the door to the microwave shut on those 5 gallon buckets :0)

-Greybear

-- Got DE?

-- Gerybear (greybear@home.com), June 22, 1999.

Bear - ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!

I'm glad you verbalized what I was thinking...

justme

-- justme (finally@home.com), June 22, 1999.

Thanks alot guys!

-- steve (steve@NWMo.com), June 22, 1999.

Dear Greybear, Do you use DE alone, or in conjunction with something else? I have read up some on DE, but wonder if you think it is sufficient to use only DE. Thanks for all the great posts!

-- Mumsie (Lotsakids@home.com), June 22, 1999.

Excellent suggestion! Since microwaves selectively heat water molecules, and since dry grains have little water compared to an insect (full of water), I'd expect the little bugs and their eggs to overheat quite rapidly and die.

This would be very easy to check by putting some bugs from your garden or yard into a container full or wheat or rice grains and zap them. The water in the bugs would probably boil and the steam would explode them. But, if you freeze them, they are still there, too.

Granted, you can't microwave a 5 gal bucket, but for 30 seconds per gallon, it wouldn't take too long to zap them.

-- Bob (janebob99@aol.com), June 22, 1999.

Just don't leave it in longer than 30 sec. or you'll have pop-corn/wheat/bean/whatever.

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), June 23, 1999.

Steve,

Sorry, I'm just having one of those days. Images come to my alleged mind and I couldn't help myself. It is a legitimate question. My stuff is all packed in buckets and barrels and would require reprocessing - not going to happen.

However, for those packing from bulk, this might be a good idea, I just don't know. I'd be curious to know what effect the (however slight) heating would have on the grains.

Mumsie,

All I know about DE is what I've been told. Some of the experts sware by it, others sware at it. Most seem to like it. The theory sound right to me.

-Greybear

-- Got Humor?

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), June 23, 1999.

I once microwaved some underpants in an attempt to get them to dry quickly.

Unfortunately,they caught fire.(I don't expect this information is of much help)unless of course you get ants in your pants !

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), June 23, 1999.

The bugs would heat faster than the grain, but their little bodies would dissipate heat quickly, too. (That's why there are no ant-sized warm-blooded critters.) So they'd never overheat, unless they were in a big clump. I wouldn't trust this method.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), June 23, 1999.

Ants scoff at microwaves. They will cheerfully crawl around inside a microwave WHILE IT IS ON!!!!!

As far as the bugs go - sift them out and dry them. grind them up as a protein supplement and put them back in the flour. You think I'm kidding? Anyone squemish about alternate protein sources needs to consider the strength of their will too survive.

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), June 23, 1999.

Here's a hint from experience. If you put a leather wallet through the washing maching don't try to dry it in the micro... Read this on what microwaves do to food & nutrition. I'm interested to hear some opinions on this.

The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking

mb in NC

-- mb (mdbutler@coastalnet.com), June 23, 1999.

Microwaves damage the molecular integrity of food and diminish its prana/qi/chi/life force. "Experiments reported in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet (Dec. 9, 1989) demonstrate that microwave cooking alters food enough to cause, upon ingestion, 'structural, functional and immunological changes' in the body. The report further states that microvaves transform the amino acid L-proline into D-proline, a proven toxin to the nervous system, liver and kidneys." Paul Pitchford, from his book HEALING WITH WHOLE FOODS.

-- Shivani Arjuna (S Arjuna@aol.com), June 24, 1999.

So now the microwave becomes a very expensive cupboard? At least it's lighted when it's open so you can see in there!!

Back to basics.....

PS What are those black-round things on top of that hot box in the kitchen for?

-- J (jart5@bellsouth.net), June 24, 1999.

Okay = so we have nuked ants, pants, and wallets (couldn't make that last one rhyme - dant it.)

It would appear to me that the microwave, by exciting the 'water" inside a (comparatively solid) carpace of a hard-shelled insect, would lead to increased internal pressures in said hard-shelled critter. Given the application of sufficient microwave energy inside said carpace for long enough periods of time - so long as the energy does not lead to the explosion or cooking of the food substances around said critter (ie, "popping corn" or rice) - the internal water would tend to not only only heat said critter to the point of discomfort or death, but potentially to the point of changing internal water (and other liuids) to internal steam.

Increasing water vapor within a closed pressure vessel (ie, the hard-sheeled carpace) will increase pressure to the point of catastrpohic destruction of the restaining vessel.

That is, you may blow up the bug, larva, or egg.

This will, no doubt, lead to extreme discomfort on the bug's part, and perhaps, the bug's departure from this current life into, shall we say, "bug heaven." (Bug heaven, of, might well be people hell, but that is a different subject.)

However, unless you have a very small vacuum cleaner, or have wrapped all the bugs in disposal tissues prior to applying microwave energy in sufficient quanitity to blow them up, you will probably find left-over bug parts and pieces still in the food container.

This might not be acceptable to future eaters. [But, if the future eaters never found out about bug parts and pieces, they probably will notice the various bug parts and pieces encountered.]

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), June 24, 1999.

I remember seeing in a TV documentary that bugs are more sensitive to heat than are humans. In fact, a company was using heat rather than chemicals for pest control. If I remember correctly, they had to heat an area to 150 degrees F to kill all insects. Rodents (and humans, presumably) could survive that. The big benefit was safety for pets and no residual chemicals. Presumably, this would work the same in a microwave. As for eating the remains, insect eating is the norm for humans, our society is not (though I've only had fried 'flying ants' [termites] once - they were okay).

-- Tricia the Canuck (tricia_canuck@hotmail.com), June 24, 1999.

Yes - wrap the house in huge plastic sheets; seal teh bags, and pump hot gas (from burning more oil and gas!) into the bag. Leave it around the house for several (hours?) and the heat kills the bugs.

And wastes a HUGE amount of energy and precious (irretrieval, irreplaceable) chemicals, releases hundreds of pounds of chemical residue into the air (from burning the fuel to heat the air, from making the bags and sealers, and from the heated gasses themselves.) Never mind the waste and energy losses from the inefficient heating process itself!

All to save two or three pouinds of chemical from being sprayed into walls and sround the outside of the house? Only in CA would they consider THIS environmentally "friendly".

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), June 24, 1999.

Microwaving will work poorly for eliminating adult insects or eggs. This is basically for two reasons:

#1 - Most microwaves have hot-spots inside the microwave cavity. Even with a turn table it's difficult to get them to heat evenly.

#2 - Insects and insect eggs do contain some water, but so does the grains/beans/flour you're trying to treat. The microwaves will cause it all to heat up, albeit at different rates. By the you've managed to actually kill the insects and insect eggs you'll be taking damage in the food itself.

Diatomaceous earth does have some effectiveness, but not nearly so much as proper freeze treatment or the use of carbon dioxide. Vacuum sealing works rather well also. I explain how it's all done in the Prudent Food Storage FAQ which is free to download, if you're interested.

............Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.0

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@sprintmail.com), June 24, 1999.