Maggots in my wine journal yikes!!

[allisonw]

I have not pulled out my wine journal in ahhges. It's is up with the cookbooks in the kitchen in a cupboard with lots of food in it too. I just pulled it out to stick another wine label in there and there were oh dear god two live maggots in between the pages. I got them out of there and then microwaved my wine journal for a minute.

Think I'm safe? How about my wine journal? Is that adequate irradiation? How would they have gotten in there? Should I suspect there is some food in my dry storage cupboard that is infested? I looked on the shelf where the wine journal was and see nothing, though that particular cupboard is filled with little things in packages, some of them resealable like spices and whatnot.

My first reaction is to burn down my house and run in fear, but that may be too dramatic an approach!

[Caroline1]

Well, I suggest you not worry about the wine journal and take everything out of that cupbaord and clean it out. Maggots ONLY grow in dead animal matter. I assume there is none of that in your wine journal or the cupboard. However, are you absolutely certain they were maggots? Weevil larvae can grow in flour, and to an untrained eye, they look rather similar to maggots. From what you say about having little packages of stuff in the cupbaord, I think weevil larvae are far more likely than maggots. And if that's the case, they aren't germ carrying. You just do want to get rid of them before they travel into other flours and such. Large zip lock bags are a good way to store things if you don't want to use lidded jars. Oh... And if they really were maggots, your whole house would smell really really really bad! Like rotting flesh. The fact you haven't mentioned any odors convinces me you have a larvae infestation, not maggots. Relax. Maybe nuke your wine journal for two minutes if there's no gooey glue in it, then store it away from food stuffs. Good luck!

[allisonw]

You are probably right about them being the bugs that live in flour. Pretty much everything's in ziplocks or jars, but I'm betting something got a hole in it....

Thanks for calming me down, and I will be examining things!

[allisonw]

Well, I just did the top shelf and found the culprit--a little bag of nuts not properly sealed up. Took everything out, wiped down the shelf with vodka and nuked all the cookbooks. Will have to go through everything of course, but I think I found the source at least.

[Tay]

allison
You're cute. lol!
Buy some clear plastic jars in different sizes and store everything in them. Sometimes, weevils are already in a package/box, so check them for small holes..

[Caroline1]

Weevil "eggs" (or whatever it is the larvae come from) is in the flour when it leaves the mill! Don't know if it's the same critter that lives in nuts though, but surely semething similar.

Glad you found the culprit, Allison, and that it's NOT maggots! '-)

[KTinNYC]

You wiped the shelves down in vodka? I would have drank the vodka and used bleach but to each there own...

[mschow]

What a sorry waste of Vodka! Bleach next time, or rubbing alcohol if you have no bleach on hand. Is it too early for a martini...

[southernitalian]

I'm sorry. Vodka? Sounds expensive. Why not a bleach solution?

[meatn3]

But I am completely loving the visual of a Chowhound with more vodka varieties than mundane cleaning products!

:)

[gryphonskeeper]

I see... first you invite the bugs in, feed them appetizers of nuts and fine wine labels, then hit them with after dinner aspertif of vodka? Geeze, last dinner I got invited to they served mystery loaf and abhor mist. :p