Random Thoughts Thread

[Montmorency]

Last fall I bought my first-ever bulk sack of rice. As I went to prepare some of it yesterday, the level finally running low, I figured out the cause of a few problems of mine.

Transfer grains and legumes to an airtight container immediately upon opening, dry rations may come pre-infested.

I had been having an escalating problem with moths, almost as bad as I'd ever seen in my life. Well, now I know. Rice may carry moth eggs, which hatch when exposed to air. Why have I never seen this information on any packaging?!?>

The trigger to the realization was noticing a couple of maggots crawling around in my measure of dry rice, with who knows how many more among the grains. There were even a couple of those small ants in there.

In a recipe I call "The Old-fashioned", I soldiered on with my rations as-is, because if it was more often than not good enough for our ancestors, it would be transitorily acceptable for me.

But it's kind of a miserable experience eating this, *knowing* that your food is contaminated with vermin. The knowledge haunts you with every bite as you ponder the nature of every firmness under the teeth and every sheerness the tongue laps. Also, slightly burned and mushy - because I cooked 6 cups of rice at once so I wouldn't feel bad about trashing the remainder. I forgot that you can't fill up a pot near-limit, the food in contact with the metal is overpressured and loses all its mositure faster than usual.

At least I learned my lesson before I opened my second sack of rice, which I just bought...