Does anyone know how to deal with rice weevils?
Those little black bugs that appear in stored rice.
I always buy good rice from supermarkets, but later they appear almost always in the pack where I store the rice (and it’s airtight).
Any idea?
Maybe storing the rice in the refrigerator is going to prevent them from appearing?
Is it only me or do other people have them in their stored rice?
What causes them?
How to get rid of them?
Personally, I had the same problem shortly after buying my first big bag of rice here (I really don’t think they sell small ones, and who would have thought something like RICE would ever be inedible?) It was also airtight, but for some reason not bugtight. This is what I’ve done since then (after throwing out most of my food thinking I had some sort of infestation), and I’ve never had the problem:
-buy a silica gel pack like those sold for camera equipment (to keep it dry)
-put the pack into the rice bag and store it in the fridge (keeping it in the fridge is important); I seal mine to keep odd smells out but it’s not necessary.
Those weevils are ugly, and to be entirely honest, I didn’t know that they were common or even had a name, so thanks for teaching me something!
Rice weevils will appear the longer the rice is stored especially as mentioned above if the location is not dry. Keep in mind that the rice you buy in a supermarket comes from many sources and the rice may not have been dried or bagged properly before it arrived at the processing plant. Also, in general supermarket rice is old rice, meaning by the time it goes from the farmer to the factory to be deshelled and bagged then delivered to the supermarket shelf many months have passed. To solve this problem, I would suggest taking the rice out of the bag and storing it in a air tight container preferably ceramic but plastic will do and placing it in a dry area in the kitchen .I have never had weevils in my rice but this is because I only eat “fresh” seasonal rice at home. As any farmer will tell you, there is no such thing as good supermarket rice.
When you wash the rice, those will be washed away. If necessary, wash the rice two, three, or more times. My Taiwanese friends say that these little bugs are nothing to worry about.
I always keep my rice and grits in the freezer in plastic containers. Also, things like corn meal and even some cereals do better in the freezer. Thank goodness it’s relatively roomy.
According to my wife washing the rice will get rid of the visible adult weevils but not the larvae. Also if enough weevils have been eating the rice it will become much harder.
I would suggest leaving them in there as the wholesome little blighters are jam packed with protein! So, they are highly nutritious as well as adding extra flavour, colour and texture. Btw… storing them in the fridge will not stop them but the freezer will. They don’t just appear but are the result of eggs layed at some point between the rice being processed and arriving in your home. If they come in a sealed plastic bag then the eggs were probably laid in the silo. Perhaps you could try buying a more expensive, therefore (one would think), better quality product. Flour too can suffer from weevils
[color=green]Juba’s green Daoist method: If your rice already has weevil grubs in it, place it in the vicinity of an ant nest. The ants will drag all the grubs out of the rice grains and take them home to eat. They also like to dine on flea eggs and termite grubs, it says here. This is know in Chinese as yi chong zhi chong
[quote=“Juba”][color=green]Juba’s green Daoist method: If your rice already has weevil grubs in it, place it in the vicinity of an ant nest. The ants will drag all the grubs out of the rice grains and take them home to eat. They also like to dine on flea eggs and termite grubs, it says here. This is know in Chinese as yi chong zhi chong
Ever tried putting boric acid powder in your rice? Jus sprinkle some on your rice and wash it off when making the rice. Its a pretty effective solution!
I had no idea what they were called. I was mad when I found them, but I guess that would explain why my two Taiwanese roommates don’t have rice sitting out in the open. I’m going to move my sealed jar into the freezer now. Thanks for the advice and information.
I recently found these bugs in an imported unopened bag of pasta.
I can’t find the numbers just now, but there is an FDA regulation somewhere stating that if there is less than X% of insect in a given batch of some agricultural product, it is legally pest free and good for consumption. And mind you, it is not 0%…
Anyhow, freezer will work to keep these little friends away, but a more traditional way to do that is to drop a few heads of garlic in your bag of rice.
Also, some traditional containers made of wood have a fresh, strong peppery smell that will keep most bugs away.