Astonishing, any way you slice it

[snopes]

A loaf of bread that sat neglected on a cupboard shelf in Ellerslie, P.E.I., for eight months is still fresh and free of mould, amazing its 85-year-old owner and her family.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/n...6-34875af12720

[llewtrah]

Originally Posted by snopes

A loaf of bread that sat neglected on a cupboard shelf in Ellerslie, P.E.I., for eight months is still fresh and free of mould, amazing its 85-year-old owner and her family.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/n...6-34875af12720

This sounds like those sandwiches made for the army!

[Logoboros]

I had a loaf of bread that I left sitting on the counter of an un-air-conditioned, fairly humid apartment kitchen for about six weeks when I went to visit my parents for a summer. I realized I had left it there after I was several hundred miles down the road, and dreaded coming back to the science experiment I expected.

But when I returned, the no sign of any mold or fuzziness on the bread (I don't remember how much softness it had retained). I was a little freaked out about the power of the preservatives.

--Logoboros

Yes, mass-produced, store bought bread, although it does go a little hard (as the moisture leaves it) will not mold (in normal circumstances). However, the preservative-free, hand-crafted loaves that I buy from my local bakery will begin to mold in 1-3 days (unless placed in the refrigerator).

[kitoboo]

A friend of mine went away for a few days leaving a loaf of bread on a shelf. She didn't mention anything about mold but she did tell me that when she checked the bread when she got back she found a perfectly round mouse sized tunnel through the entire length of the loaf.

[Buckle Up]

I was never concerned about preservatives until stuff like this started happening. It freaks me out that this bread I bought never molds. It's just not right, somehow.

Also, I bought one of those Sara Lee "soft and smooth" loaves that are whole grain but white and soft like regular white bread.

Although it delivered what it promised, when I started to eat it I had second thoughts - it was so soft and so smooth that I started to wonder and worry about the chemicals that must have been necessary to make that happen. And I couldn't eat it anymore.

[Avril]

My bread molds. My processed, buy it pre-sliced in the bag from the shelf next to the hot dog buns bread.

How do I get moldy bread and you don't? It takes about three weeks, but it does start to turn green and fuzzy.

Avril

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by llewtrah

This sounds like those sandwiches made for the army!

I bought some of that bread that is supposed to last for a week once. I ate it in 3 days, but when I wrote to complain they weren't having any of it.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Here I expected this to be a story about home-baked bread. There are recipes that make loaves that keep for a VERY long time without spoilage - if you keep the rodents away. Very useful when you can only get use of an oven very rarely.

I never seem to have trouble getting factory bread to mold. I am guessing that the miracle loaves are going so long because they are being kept tightly sealed the entire time so that no mold spores are getting to them.

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by Avril

My bread molds. My processed, buy it pre-sliced in the bag from the shelf next to the hot dog buns bread.

How do I get moldy bread and you don't? It takes about three weeks, but it does start to turn green and fuzzy.

Avril

Same here. I buy buttermilk Wonderbread and it starts molding in about 2 to 3 weeks.

My supermarket, mass produced, no real nutritional value (only bought when the bakery is closed) bread molds up after a week and it's kept tightly sealed in it's bag. Maybe they use less preservities in Oz.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

I bought some of that bread that is supposed to last for a week once. I ate it in 3 days, but when I wrote to complain they weren't having any of it.

YOMANK

I seem to recall that the preservative qualities of bread in regards to going stale, are down to the fat content in the dough - the less fat, the quicker the bread will go hard.

As regards mould, I suppuse it's down to luck of the draw as to whether mould spores land on your bread or not. If it left the bakery free of viable spores, and was kept well wrapped, and there are few if any mould spores floating around in your storage area, then mould will not develop.

Originally Posted by Avril

My bread molds. My processed, buy it pre-sliced in the bag from the shelf next to the hot dog buns bread.

How do I get moldy bread and you don't? It takes about three weeks, but it does start to turn green and fuzzy.

Avril

Our store-bought, white, chemical-laden bread molds in about a week. Actually, it gets a moldy smell within several days, and a couple days after that, there's visible mold. Of course homemade whole wheat bread molds almost immediately and gets hard very quickly too.

This reminds me of SuperSize Me, where Spurlock put the McDonald's french fries in a jar and no matter how long they were left, they looked the same, just a bit deflated. Of course, if you've ever found a two-year old McDonald's fry under the seat of the car, you already knew that.

[Troodon]

I try to avoid buying food that does not spoil in a reasonable amount of time. The way I see it, bacteria and fungi are better at biochemistry than my body is. If they can't eat the stuff, I don't think that I want to.

[geminilee]

Originally Posted by Troodon

I try to avoid buying food that does not spoil in a reasonable amount of time. The way I see it, bacteria and fungi are better at biochemistry than my body is. If they can't eat the stuff, I don't think that I want to.

So you don't anything containing honey then?

[Keket]

We just went through a very humid/foggy period where we almost couldn't keep bread in the house. Packaged, pre-sliced, mass produced bread. We'd buy the freshest that we could, and within days, it would be mouldy. We had a package of blueberry scones and those lasted... three days, I think. Where is this super bread you're all buying?

Originally Posted by Troodon

I try to avoid buying food that does not spoil in a reasonable amount of time. The way I see it, bacteria and fungi are better at biochemistry than my body is. If they can't eat the stuff, I don't think that I want to.

In my Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, she says that no self-respecting cockroach will go near white flour (and if they won't eat it, we shouldn't either.) I don't think that's actually true, but not sure.

[geminilee]

I guess the roaches I found in a flour spill in my kitchen had no self-respect, then.

[MidgardDragon]

Originally Posted by Griffin2020

Yes, mass-produced, store bought bread, although it does go a little hard (as the moisture leaves it) will not mold (in normal circumstances).

I beg to differ. I've left mass-produced store-bought bread sitting (in it's bag) in the kitchen at room temperature and forgotten about it, only to realize it had molded when I went to make a sandwich.

[Il-Mari]

Originally Posted by Troodon

I try to avoid buying food that does not spoil in a reasonable amount of time. The way I see it, bacteria and fungi are better at biochemistry than my body is. If they can't eat the stuff, I don't think that I want to.

Heh, then you probably wouldn't want to come near traditional Finnish foods. With long winters and a historically mostly rural population, we've got a lot of foods that can last for months without going bad (since they were necessary for survival).

- Il-Mari