Why is my peanut soft and moldy?
The mold fungus Aspergillus flavus can infect crops in the field, at harvest, and during storage. Pests, delayed harvest, insufficient drying, poor post-harvest handling and damp storage conditions can all lead to fungus contamination and growth. It produces one of the most dangerous toxin and carcinogen of liver cancer — alfatoxins. Aflatoxins degrade by 80% by heat at 180 °C. Throw away any peanut that is soft, shriveled, discolored or moldy.
Why is my store-bought frozen broccoli mushy when cooked?
Frozen broccoli is blanched in the factory before being packed. So it will always be mushy when cooked once again at home. If you like crunchy and firm broccoli, you have to buy raw broccoli.
Why are there alive tiny black insects in the organic dried figs?
These are larvae of figs wasps, born from the eggs of the mated female wasps which get into the figs (an inverted, enclosed round flower). Male larvae are wingless while the females are winged. They are harmless to eat and provide additional protein. Else, tear apart the figs and put them in a mini oven at 200°C for some seconds to kill off any alive insects.
