You do not normally think of mold as a part of your diet and you probably should not, but the fact is that foods have been made with mold in them for millennia. Most of the time, though, molded food in your refrigerator does not work in your favor and ingesting it can very well make you sick. This usually comes from outdated items or fruits and vegetables and most of the time, you will have to throw these things away.
Molded bread needs to be thrown out, because it is a porous food and any mold that grows on one piece will contaminate the next one to it. You cannot be sure how far the mold has embedded itself into the loaf, so it is best to just throw away the whole loaf.
Jellies and jams in the refrigerator are also notorious for mold growth. We tend to forget about old jars of grape jelly stuffed into the back of the fridge behind everything else and they mold after a while. Throw these out. These contain a large amount of moisture and cannot be saved. If you notice that this happens every time you purchase a certain kind of jelly, jam, or other item in your fridge, try to buy things that you know your family will eat before they become moldy. This will help with the problem.
Other items like sour cream and mayonnaise, like the jams and jellies that we mentioned earlier, cannot be saved. You can use outdated sour cream for a while, since sour cream is already sour, but molded sour cream should be thrown out as soon as it is discovered.
Some items in your fridge that become molded can be saved, though, if you know what to do with them. Items like hard salami and blocks of cheese can be salvaged if you cut around the molded spot and throw it away. Cut off at least an inch around and under these areas and do not touch the knife to the mold itself and then touch another part of the food. Cross contamination is a real problem here.
You can cut down on the amount of molded foods in your fridge by making sure that your family eats the leftovers that get stored there and by purchasing smaller containers of foods that you find are becoming molded the most often. You will save time and the money necessary to replace the molded food.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
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