Should I throw it out??
Posted by Living_My_Truth on Nov 30, 2008 · Member since Jan 2008 · 75 posts
I have a big old bag of raw cashews in my cabinet. While using some of them today, I discovered little worms swaddled in bits of cottony crap stuck to the top of the plastic bag they are stored in-above the cashews themselves. As far as I can tell there aren't any in the cashews themselves, but I guess reality says there something amongst them. What would you do? We're talking like 3 lbs. of cashews....I hate to waste. I considered rinsing them well and then keeping them in the freezer. Is this gross??
As long as they are not rancid I would try and salvage them
what I'd do in Your shoes:
rinse them well, reserve a serving or so (1/3 cup-ish), and put the rest in the freezer. Eat the serving of cashews, and give it at least a day before eating any more. if You get sick, You can probably blame it on the cashews....but don't psych Yourself out and get worked up/worried to the point of an uneasy stomach, because You'll want to go about this experiment in the most controlled, scientific way possible.
I suspect they're fine, but I too hate to waste food, so I guess I often eat things that others wouldn't....
Definitely test some like CW said. Maybe crack a few open and see if they look and taste normal on the inside. If they seem okay, freeze them pronto :)
you people are so awesome! ;)b I would also try to salvage as much as I could. Most people I know would throw them out simply because they were old...nevermind the worms! It's nice to know that there are other people out there who care about waste.
I agree.
Inspect, rinse and you could go as far to roast or freeze them.
you should definitely put them in the compost pail. Having known someone who got pretty sick from intestinal parasites, don't ingest anything that's got worms in or on the bag. Even if you freeze or roast them. They should be fine in the compost bin, there are a ton of worms there already. :)
hrmmm, bluegirl brings up an interesting point...
and I'm thinking that even if You eat some to test them out, and IF You'd happen to get some kind of parasite, You might not feel sick for a while afterward.....but roasting the cashews above a certain temp should kill any potential little eggs or parasites inside, right??
damn. tough call.
I would have said, yah, go ahead and eat 'em, but the parasites are a good point. I say toss 'em.
That being said, there was one of those little maggot things in cotton crap on the mouth of the jar I keep my bay leaves in, and I still used the leaves in my soup yesterday. There was no sign of critters in the jar itself. So, what the hell do I know. I'm still kickin'! ;)b
Clean out your cupboards too--those things breed like mad. No one hate me...but I kill them when I find them because they've ruined too much of my food with their webs. Yes, if god is a grain moth, then I'm going to hell. They rode in in some hazelnuts from Wild Oats once, and it took me _forever_ to get rid of them. I wanted to save my hazelnuts after I found little white squirmy things in them, so sorted them and then poured boiling water over them, but still was too weirded out by the possibility of eating larva, and threw most of my nuts away :(
Wasting food is bad, but it's not avoidable sometimes...at least you have a compost pile!
No one hate me...but I kill them when I find them because they've ruined too much of my food with their webs.
Yeah, I've had to kill them too. They are out of control. Much like fruit flies. Breeders. :P
I opened my cupboard earlier to see that I had ants. Luckily I keep mostly cans in that cupboard and my nuts in containers. I would've been royally pissed off if I'd had to throw them away. The only thing they got into was a partial bag of pasta I had in there.
i've never seen those little worms before...i'd throw them out IF they seemed to be in the nuts. if they were on top and nowhere else i'd just scoop off the top layer and freeze the rest.
OK, based on the opinion of most, I went ahead and rinsed them off well and they are in the freezer now. As I was sorting and rinsing there didn't appear to be any signs of webs or critters, so hopefully we're ok....parasites don't sound pleasant, but I feel like the only way I've heard of people getting those is by eating undercooked meat or by being barefoot in certain areas. I had to keep my husband from throwing them out a couple times today already and he has already adamantly stated that he will not be eating any of them. Little does he know...they'll be covertly mixed into the uncheeses he enjoys. >:D Anywho, speaking of rancid nuts, what would they smell like if they were rancid? The closest thing I can liken the smell of my cashews to is a cold, cooked hamburger patty (the real dead cow kind). As gross as that comparison is, it's not a foul odor, just a bland smell that is most similar to that which I remember. I feel like I've smelled rancid nuts and they smelled like play dough....
I would have said, yah, go ahead and eat 'em, but the parasites are a good point. I say toss 'em.
That being said, there was one of those little maggot things in cotton crap on the mouth of the jar I keep my bay leaves in, and I still used the leaves in my soup yesterday. There was no sign of critters in the jar itself. So, what the hell do I know. I'm still kickin'! ;)b
No way, I found one in my bay leaf jar too. But mine was sandwiched between 2 bay leaves at the top of the jar....I inspected the rest of the jar and they looked fine, so I still use them. However, if it was something I wasn't gonna cook (such as the cashews) I don't know if I'd trust it.
Those worms in webs are going to grow up to be tiny moths. They get in everything, breed like crazy and can destroy your whole pantry. I say toss it out! Clean the cupboard and check EVERYTHING!