This was in an older midwest farmhouse, built in the '20’s, I would guess. Original cabinets, to my knowledge (I know that it was hell finding hardware that would fit correctly, very limited selection). Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen drawers like this in other houses, either.
I guess I’d be interested in learning what process goes faster in a cold refrigerator than in a warm kitchen. That’s not the way chemical activity usually works.
The only thing I could think of would be faster evaporation due to the lower humidity in the fridge, but that doesn’t seem satisfactory for a couple of reasons. The first is that bread is typically wrapped in plastic; the second is that the humidity in a house in winter is often just as low or lower than in the fridge.
It was always my understanding the refrigerating bread wasn’t a good idea because the process of removing it from the fridge causes condensation inside the bag, etc, making for less tasty bread. I could be wrong though.
I have always kept my bread in the fridge, and I’ve never had any problem. I also go thru a loaf in about 10 days, so it never gets old anyway. I also buy loaves that have double plastic (Earth Grains Honey Wheatberry), if that makes any difference.
I agree, but unfortunatelly I can’t give you any good explanation.
In the book there’s a graph plotting how fast the moisture gets absorbed/lost, and it is quite clear. I don’t think he gives any scientifically valid reasoning, but the data is taken from actual experiments.
I found an older style tin breadbox about 3 or 4 years ago. Not sure why this thing works, but I have had tortillas in it now in their once opened plastic bag for about 6 weeks now. Packaged bread and rolls last a long time as well. Hamburger buns have been in since Christmas weekend. Had one this evening and fresh as ever. Used to have a wood breadbox and it wasn’t good for much except not crushing breads. Still went bad in a short period of time. Sure has been a mystery but it works. It has 2 levels one with a drop door the another with a latching door. There are some designs on it and there are some vent holes.
Is a zombie bigger than a breadbox?
I don’t know, OP.
But I’ve noticed that mold isn’t the problem it used to be and I don’t know why. I buy the hippy-est bread I can find at my non-healthfood grocery store (Vermont multigrain something or other), and put it in the fridge, and it seems to last basically forever. My grandma gets Levys? Jewish rye bread, and leaves it out (in the plastic but not fridge) and it also lasts basically forever.
When I was a kid, even if refrigerated, one constantly had to check bread for mold issues.
Why is this? Is bread even more saturated with preservatives (even Vermont hippy bread)? Are fridges more dehumidified? Is mold an endangered species?
Lettuce doesn’t last unless I put it in a box with paper towels to absorb water.
Issues other than mold I haven’t paid attention to (staleness etc).
obviously you don’t defrost it right. I’ve only seen it soggy if it’s been defrosted too fast, or it’s gotten wet in the freezer, and I live in a humid climate. If you really don’t like it, you could use it to make toasted bread crumbs or croutons
I found a wooden, with a curved plastic (Flip-up) cover which seems to work well.
Years ago in Spain, the “Marias” in the neighborhood would hang bags of some type of fabric (muslin?) on the street gates or the door handles, for the bread man to drop their daily orders in. In their homes, later in the day, the bags would be hung in the kitchen and the bread stayed fresh until use. Granted, the usage was daily so not a big problem. I never was able to find the bags in stores, and always forgot to ask the neighbors.
Weird, I was just thinking about this sort of drawer this weekend. See, my great-grandmother had one, and for some reason I was trying to remember if we ever used it after we moved in to take care of her. I didn’t figure it out, because while I recall all the stuff she kept in it, I don’t remember us using it ourselves.
Anyway, until a couple of years ago, we had a wooden bread box, and when it fell apart we replaced it with a wire basket. There doesn’t seem to be any significant difference in how long bread last(ed) in either.
My mothers house also has 2 metal drawers like that. The top one is the ‘bread drawer’, while the one below it is much larger, and holds a 25-pound sack of flour.
There was one such drawer in my house growing up (kitchen remodeled in about 1963 so it was installed then). Dunno if it made the bread last longer or not; with 4 kids in the family, bread didn’t last long enough to go bad.