57
votes
Best way to remove fruit flies from your kitchen
Fruit fly trap !
Put some strong smelling vinegar, like apple cider vinegar, in a glass and make the trap by making a cone with a sheet of paper. The strong sweet smell will attract them and they won'...
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41
votes
Accepted
Best way to remove fruit flies from your kitchen
As I’ve recently tried to much success, sucking the bastards with a vacuum cleaner is easy, fast, ruthlessly efficient, and unlike sticky liquid contraptions, it doesn’t carry the risk of accidentally ...
- 534
37
votes
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Why did this gallon of milk stay fresh for so long?
Milk goes bad because it gets colonized by bacteria. There are two sources for this bacteria; ones already present in the milk because pasteurization didn't kill them, and from the environment (that ...
- 65.5k
18
votes
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Canned Coconut milk is curdled when opened
I didn't notice an exact duplicate of this question anywhere, but it's quite common for canned coconut milk to separate leaving an opaque white solid layer of fat and solids, and a thin watery/syrup ...
- 5,227
14
votes
Why did this gallon of milk stay fresh for so long?
Something to be aware of is where the milk is from and how it's pasteurized. My store brand milk is local and pasteurized only, but some other brands are ultra pasteurized and expected to last much ...
- 5,227
13
votes
Best way to remove fruit flies from your kitchen
Removing whatever it is that they were attracted to is the first step. The second is making traps for them:
Find a small container with a tight fitting lid. (I like the ones you get for dipping ...
- 81.7k
12
votes
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Is it bad to refrigerate cut up onions?
Restaurants store cut onions refrigerated all the time. They will try to use them in one shift but they can last longer if needed.
They will go soft after time and lose flavor and crispness. As far ...
- 6,308
11
votes
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Can I simply soak fruit and vegetables in water for several hours to sanitize them?
Washing fruit and vegetables in water is less an exercise in sterilisation and more a case of simply washing off any mud or debris. Soaking in still water does nothing to clean, well, anything really. ...
- 43.6k
11
votes
Best way to remove fruit flies from your kitchen
Try adding a few carnivorous plants that feast on flies not too far away from your fruit bowl:
A Nepenthes Ventrata, for instance, requires regular watering and temperatures in the 15-25C range, but ...
10
votes
bread that does not get moldy
It's the baking and packaging.
These dark rye breads are baked for a very long time (effectively pasteurizing them) and then sealed in their packaging. If you do this in a commercial setting that can ...
- 60.4k
9
votes
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Is the sink or float test for eggs accurate?
Eggs are a vehicle for a growing embryo. When that embryo is developing, it needs nutrients and fluids, and the egg yolk and white are those reserves, The fluid requirements decrease as the embryo ...
- 8,652
9
votes
How to maximize shelf-life of freeze-dried food beyond 25 years? How far can this be exceeded?
The question is rather difficult to answer since it is based on false assumptions. I will try addressing those.
What process happens after 25-30 years which limits its shelf life?
There is no reason ...
- 140k
8
votes
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What has happened to this oil?
Oil solidifies at cold temperature.
In the case of olive oil, it does so at 37F.
It takes a few minutes to get back to liquid state, either by leaving it on the counter or putting the jar in warm ...
- 20.5k
8
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Why did this gallon of milk stay fresh for so long?
Milk often keeps for longer than stated, especially unopened, but I wouldn't want to rely on it even though milk tends to spoil in a way that smells obvious. My experience of keeping it past its date ...
- 45.2k
7
votes
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Old macadamia nuts have a bitter taste and sticky-greasy mouthfeel, is that normal?
After one or two years, your macadamia nuts are almost certainly rancid or moldy, probably both, particularly if their taste was “off” at the beginning. Note that the high fat content limits their ...
- 60.4k
6
votes
Why did my whole milk go bad faster than skim milk?
Bad luck.
There isn't consensus on which would spoil faster.
Apparently there has been a controlled study that found that skim spoiled faster but the difference was slight. It would have to be in a ...
- 47.6k
6
votes
Why does my ricotta cheese go bad in a few days?
Pasteurized ricotta should last 2-4 weeks in the fridge, unpastuerized 1-2 weeks.
So, A Few Possibilities:
Your fridge is way too warm, like close to room temperature. Ricotta will spoil if left ...
- 65.5k
6
votes
Best way to remove fruit flies from your kitchen
You can try some fly paper from a hardware store. It is cheap and not harmful to other animals or people. Hang it around the problem area and toss it when the problem is gone or replace it when it ...
- 77
6
votes
Accepted
Can distilled water in gallon plastic bottles expire?
There is no reliable expiration date for commercially bottled water, apparently because relevant authorities (such as the US FDA) have declined to scientifically test for it. Per bottledwater.org:
...
- 65.5k
6
votes
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What happened to my frozen yeast?
TIL that there are organisms which not only survive temperatures under 0 Celsius, but are able to actively live in that range, as opposed to just hibernating. Nevertheless, I doubt that baker's yeast ...
- 140k
6
votes
Can frozen mango spoil?
This sounds like freezer burn to me. Freezer burn is dehydration that is often the result of less than optimal packaging. This is not a safety issue, but it can certainly impact flavor and texture. ...
- 77k
6
votes
Accepted
When do bananas go bad?
(Note: this is for Cavendish bananas, the main banana sold in the United States; I don’t know if this is true for other banana varieties)
As a banana ripens, it becomes sweeter and softer.
When is ...
- 81.7k
6
votes
Accepted
Why did my potatoes and bananas spoil to mush within a week?
This sounds like soft rot on the potatoes. Soft rot tends to ooze "water" from the lesion and release a foul smell as it breaks down the potato. The potato will still look white and be mushy,...
- 16.3k
5
votes
Is it safe to store unopened Gatorade in 78 degrees Fahrenheit?
Firstly, Gatorade is shelf stable. The product is pasteurized, so no pathogens are present in an unopened container. That means it does not need to be refrigerated. So, unopened, in your home is fine. ...
- 77k
5
votes
Advice on how I can make my own 1 cal cooking spray like frylight
Why not just pick whatever oil you want to use, put some on a paper towel and wipe the pan with it? It'll have the same affect or just skip the oil all together and get a really good non-stick pan?
...
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5
votes
How do I tell if my fermented sauce has gone bad?
The thing about fermentation is that it's a biological process. It's been used for thousands of years to prepare a wide variety of foods, it's extremely easy, and it's (generally) pretty safe if you ...
- 14.9k
5
votes
Relation between concentration of sugar in syrup VS its spoil rate
For a clear direct response for your question: yes, there is a correlation between sugar concentration and spoil rate. The correlation is actually between any kind of solute and spoil rate, so that's ...
- 2,861
5
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How to maximize shelf-life of freeze-dried food beyond 25 years? How far can this be exceeded?
I agree with rumtscho's answer, believing the logic behind it.
There is however one factor that could possibly have an effect, hinted at in the question: gas permeability of the package. They assume ...
- 45.2k
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