PREVENTING MOLD GROWTH 57 



sauces, jellies, mince-meat, and even pickles. It would not 

 be practicable, however, with foods whose flavor is destroyed 

 by cooking. Fresh fruit which has begun to mold cannot 

 be treated in this way without destroying the original 

 fruit flavor and giving in its place the taste of fruit pre- 

 serves or sauce. It is always necessary to remember that 

 after such heating the food is liable again to receive more 

 mold spores from the air and may therefore later show an- 

 other growth of molds. 



r 



Practical Summary 



From all these facts we may reach practical sugges- 

 tions as to the methods of avoiding the growth of molds, 

 (i) The most important of aU is that food should, so far 

 as possible, be kept tolerably dry. If it is of a nature that 

 will stand drying, it may be protected indefinitely if once 

 dried and not allowed subsequently to become damp. 

 Indeed, in a pantry or a cellar, molding commonly means 

 excessive dampness. (2) Foods are more free from mold 

 if exposed as much as practicable to light and air rather 

 than if kept stored in dark boxes. It is of course necessary 

 to keep some kinds of food in closed boxes in order to pre- 

 vent them from becoming too dry, but it is useful to remove 

 such food occasionally, to scald the container, and to ex- 

 pose it to the air and sunlight in order to prevent any great 

 accumulation of mold spores. (3) The growth of molds 

 may be almost completely stopped by lowering the tem- 

 perature, and therefore foods that are particularly liable to 

 mold may be prevented from molding for a long time if 

 kept in a refrigerator. 



