When I was 21, I moved to Italy to study food. I stocked my tiny apartment’s cupboards with what I considered the essentials—flour, sugar, salt, and pasta—then took off for much of August, when Italians famously decamp for Ferragosto.
When I came back, I opened my pantry and shrieked. Tiny bugs were crawling through the bag of flour I’d left sitting on the shelf.
Until then, flour storage had barely crossed my mind. Turns out, that paper bag was doing my flour very few favors. So what should I have done instead?
I spoke with Katherine Sprung, award-winning pastry chef and founder of Squish Marshmallows, a NYC-based artisanal marshmallow shop, to find the error of my ways. She said that transferring flour to the right container can help protect it from pests, moisture, odors, and premature spoilage. Here’s what she recommends instead.
Why You Shouldn’t Store Flour in a Paper Bag
My flour mishap was admittedly a worst-case scenario. The bag had spent weeks sitting in an unairconditioned apartment in an old Italian building in August—pretty much ideal conditions for pantry pests. But bugs aren’t the only reason Sprung recommends getting flour out of its original paper packaging.
“Paper bags are really designed for transporting and selling flour,” Sprung says. “Unless you plan to use the whole bag right away, flour can be exposed to humidity and moisture, which can cause clumping, as well as oxidation. And pantry pests like moths and beetles can make their way right into the bag.”
The larger the bag, the more important proper storage becomes. (I’m looking at you, fellow Costco bulk shoppers.) Flour left in its original packaging can also absorb strong odors from nearby foods, Sprung says. Garlic- or curry-scented flour is probably not the secret ingredient you want in your next batch of cookies or cake.
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The Best Way To Store Flour
Sprung recommends transferring flour to an airtight container as soon as you bring it home. “I always use an airtight container, like my Cambros, or any equivalent container,” she says. Then, stash it somewhere cool, dark, and dry, like a pantry or cabinet away from the stove or oven. Heat and humidity are flour’s enemies, speeding up spoilage and making it more vulnerable to clumping and pests. Whole grain and nut flours are best stored in the freezer.
Flour does expire. How quickly depends on factors like the type of flour, when it was milled, and how it was stored, but the expiration date is a good place to start. If the flour is past its date and smells musty, sour, or otherwise off, looks unusually clumpy, or shows any signs of mold, it’s time to toss it. Fresh flour should smell mild and neutral, so trust your nose if something smells off.
Read the original article on Simply Recipes