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9th January 2024
10:28am GMT
Growing up, we may have been used to seeing our parents store bags of flour in cupboards where little hands can't get access to them.
This makes sense given that the ground powder used to make all of our favourite baked goods can be a messy affair when put in the hands of children.
However, while it may seem wrong to place a bag of flour in a freezer, it makes even more sense to do so after one woman was met with the most unnerving of revelations during her last baking session.
TikTok user @tiktokkiddydoc opened up her bag of flour ahead of Christmas and filmed her discovery.
"What the hell?" she captioned the post.
"I was getting ready to do some Christmas baking and I noticed a few brown flecks in the flour and when I lifted the lid these things were crawling all over the flour," she says over a video where little mites crawling in the powder.
“What the hell are these? What is going on? I’m never baking again obviously. This is an airtight container, how do these things get in here?”
@tiktokkiddydoc What the hell? #baking #insects ♬ Creepy and simple horror background music(1070744) - howlingindicator
The now-viral clip has since garnered thousands of likes and comments with other users explaining the gross finding as flour weevils, mites, or beetles.
“When I first discovered flour weevils my soul very literally left my body," one user wrote.
“Flour mites, the eggs were in the flour when you bought it," another explained.
"They're flour beetles. The eggs were already in the flour from when it was first packaged. They eventually hatch in old flour," another agreed.
Others were quick to suggest that we should all be storing flour in the freezer to stop flour weevils from infiltrating the baking ingredient.
"Something I never want to experience again. They like rice too. When you buy grains freeze them first," one urged.
"this is why I keep my flour in my freezer now," another user added.
"The eggs were in the flour when you bought it. To stop them you put your new pack of flour in the freezer for a few days," a third suggested.
According to Grove Collaborative, baking kills their eggs and any hatched weevils before they ever make it to your mouth.
If you spot the creepy crawlies in your bag of flour after you've baked, the likelihood that you've consumed live bugs is pretty slim.
So, whether you're an avid baker in your home or just whip out the baking ingredients to keep the little ones entertained, this one piece of advice that can't hurt to follow.
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