Mold
The word "mold" is familiar to all of us, and everyone knows what this thing looks like. But not everyone thought about what it really is and where it comes from in our homes. Now we will just talk about this.
Mold is a microscopic fungus that forms characteristic deposits on the surface of organic bodies, causing food spoilage.
Russia has always been known for the quality of food, so for most of us it is still largely unclear - how is it possible to include foods with mold in the diet? But mold can be different too! Remember, for example, such a significant discovery as penicillin!
What causes mold
Mold growth begins immediately after the death of plant and animal organisms. Mold is formed first, then bacteria. Mold usually appears where there are favorable conditions for it - mold spores begin to germinate, and they multiply very quickly! If we had a microscope and even a slightly moldy product (for example, cheese) at hand, we would be horrified looking at it with multiple magnifications - the number of mold spores is simply estimated in the billions!
For mold development, there is nothing better than:
- high humidity
- room temperature 17 - 30 degrees Celsius.
Mold really does not like cleanliness and dry air, you should not ventilate the room when it is raining, cold and damp outside. It is also worth noting that mold can also infect frozen foods, this is not common, but still - check them often. Do not store frozen food for a long time - no more than a month. The processes of decay and deterioration occur slowly even at minimum temperatures.
Damage to health
As we said above, mold is a special type of fungus. For the first time in the world, scientists in Poland carried out special studies, with the help of which it was proved that mold (not visible fungi, but its spores) provokes such a serious blood disease as leukemia. It was also found that peanuts affected by mold have such a strong concentration of toxins that they can cause cancer. City dwellers spend most of their lives in residential premises, and, as a rule, these premises are closed (be it a car, apartment or office). That is, we breathe only the air that is in the room. Niches of the lungs are able to filter out most microbes well, but mold spores have their own peculiarity - they pass the airways unhindered, settle deeply in the lungs and even penetrate into the lung tissue itself.It was also found that in places of residence of allergy sufferers and asthmatics, mold was present in 80 cases out of 100. There are even types of mold, the spores of which can be the cause of diathesis in children, allergies (which over time, if not taken measures, can turn into asthma). To keep your child safe from allergies, regularly wet clean, keep the food fresh in the house, and feed your baby home-cooked meals.cooked at home.cooked at home.
Mold has appeared on the food, what should I do?
Mold can appear anywhere, but most housewives encounter it in their own refrigerator. The question immediately arises: what is the right thing to do with moldy foods? More often than any product, bread suffers from mold. He falls ill with this fungus on the second or third day after the purchase. Many housewives, having discovered such an unpleasant surprise, simply cut off the area affected by mold, and then use the rest of the bread for food. None of us thought about how this method is harmless to our health and the health of our family.
Thanks to scientific research, we learned that mold-affected flour products and dairy products, such as yoghurts, must be thrown away entirely (since they have a porous structure, and mold spores spread not only on the surface, but also deep into the dairy product or flour product ).
There is one small exception to this rule - hard cheese. If you find that mold has formed on such cheese, then you can cut off the affected area of the product (2 - 4 cm), and even after this manipulation, do not use the remaining cheese in food (ideally, it can be used to make pizza).
Probably, each of us, had to deal with mold on jam. Some housewives feel sorry for throwing out their favorite product cooked with their own hands, and remember about penicillin, or elite cheeses with mold. Only this mold has no relationship with penicillin, or expensive aromatic cheeses! After all, the mold used in the products is specially grown and trained, and homemade moldy products contain about a hundred compounds that are toxic to humans. Homemade and noble cheese molds have different names and have different effects on the human body.
What to do if you accidentally eat mold
If such an incident happened, then you should not be indifferent to it. Yes, you won't die from such an unpleasant addition to your diet, but it is still a serious poisoning. The liver will suffer first, as with any food poisoning, regardless of the poison. You should immediately drink activated charcoal (1 tablet per 10 kilograms of human weight), if a lot of spoiled product has been eaten, it is advisable to drink a solution of potassium permanganate to cleanse the stomach. After that, you should drink a lot of clean water, it is possible with lemon, warm weak tea, so that the body clears itself faster. For reinsurance, you can buy a drug that restores liver cells.
What are the edible types of mold?
Do not think that any mold is harmful and bad. There are many types of mold, so let's figure it out.
Noble mold
In Russia, this fungus is called gray rot, in fact, microbiologists gave it the name Botrytis cinerea (first, it kills the body itself, and then feeds on the killed tissues). In our country, people suffer a lot from this fungus, since a lot of edible products (berries, fruits, vegetables) become unusable because of it. But, you may be surprised, in Germany, France and Hungary, thanks to this type of fungus, the most famous and delicious types of wine are obtained. Therefore, it becomes clear why in these countries this particular mold is called "noble".
Blue mold
If noble mold was studied not so long ago, then blue mold has been known from time immemorial. This type of mold is an irreplaceable component of marble cheeses (Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Dor blue).
White mold
This mold (Pinicillium camamberti and caseicolum) is also added to the cheese during the preparation process to add a unique note to the flavor profile. Famous aromatic cheeses such as Camembert and Brie are born with the help of white mold. Moreover, Camembert is considered more valuable at the end of the shelf life.
Remember that only high-quality cheese with noble mold is really harmless to the body, it contains many trace elements. But even such a high quality product is not recommended for pregnant women and children, nor should it be abused.