Harvested for the winter dried fruits have a lot of advantages: they help to save on a free space, under certain conditions, they can be stored for years, cook compotes all year round and enjoy it just like that. More information about how you can dry and how to store dried apples can be found on our website.
But with the advent of the food moth in stocks all the labors risk being in vain.
Winged pests lay eggs in cereals, grains, and among dried apples, from which the voracious light pink larvae hatch. They can spoil the drying of the fruit, if we neglect the measures of processing and proper storage. How to store dried apples so that the mole does not start up?
Pest detection
How to understand that mole began to multiply in apples? At the bottom of containers with dried fruits, you will surely find not only white worms, but also strange light pellets, and traces of silk cocoon. The food moth can breed in other places besides feeding, and you will find it more often near the cupboards or on the walls of the kitchen.
Many tenants often confuse the usual clothes or fur coat moth with the food, which, in turn, also has its own subspecies. Most varieties food moth can be distinguished by size and pattern on the wings.
So, you will learn cocoa flames by modest size and even light yellow color.
Wings grain moth when folded, as if divided into two parts - the upper from the thoracic to the middle of the wings is light, and the lower is darker, with a pair of transverse black stripes.
Concerning flour mothits wings are brown with large dark areas (from the side of the head and the tips of the wings), which are bordered with a white line.
Clothes moth different beige color, small size (up to 1 cm), tightly adhered to the calf wings and golden or reddish hairs on the head.
How to avoid the appearance of insects?
How to keep drying of apples so that the mole does not start up? In order to secure dried fruits most problems like insects, mold and disease are advised to resort to disinfected and sealed packaging.
Paper and plastic bags for similar purposes undesirable: one small hole or a torn corner, and pests can easily get to your products.
Everything else in plastic bags there is no ventilation, condensate will accumulate, which can lead to mold growth.
In this plan the best solution there will be glass jars with tight-fitting lids, bags made of thick fabric and metal containers. The inner surface of the containers can be covered with wax or any other paper. After dried fruits are filled in, they should also be covered paper sheet.
As a storage room for the received container you can choose shaded shelves and wall cabinets. In places where it can accumulate wet air, like the floor, it is better not to leave dried fruits. The room must be regularly ventilated and maintained at an optimum temperature. Better if it is space no hotter than + 10 ° С.
A small cup or a deep bowl will save you from excessive moisture in the kitchen cabinet (next to the stocks of dried fruits). salt.
It absorbs unwanted moisturewhile maintaining an unattractive moth atmosphere.
During storage once a couple of weeks you should carefully inspect the contents of the bags or cans.
If the touch apples seem to you sticky, wet and easy to bend, then you have to replace the paper, and also dry both dried fruit and containers for them.
Many insects do not tolerate certain types of odors, which reliably deter them from the desired food. Among these means, when storing the drying of apples, the laid next will help. bay leaves, oregano, lavender, acacia.
Also, do not be amiss to decompose in the same place dried lemon peel, mandarin or other citrus fruits. The main thing is to keep them separate, and not inside the bags or cans of apples, so that the latter are not saturated with other people's flavors.
In good summer weather, drying is safe to store outside. balcony or windowsill. Dried fruits in wooden boxes or plastic buckets should be wrapped in a clean, dense cloth, such as gauze, which would let in fresh air, but prevent dust and insects from entering. About 3-6 layers of gauze are enough to protect.
Dried Fruit Protection
How to keep drying of apples from moths? In the event that the mole has already laid many eggs, and the caterpillars have plentifully flooded boxes and storerooms, experts advise get rid of all food stockswhere harmful insects can settle. Among recycling products need to bring in flour, cereals, grains, instant soups, pasta, and all dried fruit.
If the situation is not so pitiable, drying out apples and other stocks can save by heat treatment. First of all, pour out all the slices of apples from the containers, pick the spoiled ones, and place the pristine specimens on a baking tray in one layer. Next, warm the oven to 60-70 ° C and dry all the apples in it for about 20-30 minutes.
The larvae of the food moth also can not stand low temperatures.
If it is not possible to use the warming up, in the winter season in the same way, leave all the dried fruits for half an hour on the balcony (-15 ° C and below).
Otherwise, keep the apples on the shelves. the fridge no more than a day.
Butterflies and larvae of the food moth love a warm and humid environment (approximately + 25 ° C and 50% humidity). If your house is hot and damp, the removal of flames will be very time consuming. It is best to thoroughly air all the rooms, dry the corners, throw out the damp cereals, bread, etc., before processing.
It must be remembered that the use by chemical means such as insect harassment sprays are only a temporary and additional measure of control. But if you decide to resort to this tool, then treat all surfaces of bedside tables and cabinets.
Observing these not complicated and sufficient effective storage rules, you not only protect your stocks of dried fruits from pests, but also significantly prolong their shelf life.
About nuances of drying apples at home, on the balcony or on the street, read on our website.
How to keep dried apples from moths? For information on how to protect dried apples from moths by vacuum, in this video:
