Strange black powder all over my English muffins

I just pulled a couple English muffins out of the fridge to toast, when I noticed that they were all covered with some mysterious black powdery substance. It looks like mold, but has a soft, granular consistency, almost like pot ash. A couple of the deep crannies are CHOCK FULL of the stuff…although it’s apparently concentrated between muffins, whereas mold normally forms on the outside.

Any idea what this stuff is? I’d say the muffins are no more than a couple weeks old…of course, who knows how long they sat on the grocery shelf before I bought them!

In any case, I think I’m going to have a bagel instead…

It’s definitely mold. There are several different kinds of mold out there–you just got one that’s a different texture. If the muffins are a few weeks old, it’s not surprising that they’ve gone south.