What do you picture when you hear the word mold? Perhaps you imagine a loaf of bread suddenly decorated with hairy blue or green spots (like this sad peice of bread). Or maybe you have had to clean mold off of the ceiling in your shower. For me, I think of the medicine that I am highly allergic to: Penicillin.
Mold is a type of fungus that grows in warm, dark, damp places. Molds are tiny organisms that carry their stomachs on the outside and feed on organic material. They spread through asexual reproduction, in which they produce tiny spores that can float through the air. Like us, mold requires water to survive, which is why it grows faster in damp places. Since mold does not go through the process of photosynthesis like plants, it does not require sunlight and would dry out with too much sunlight; this explains why mold also grows quickly in dark places.
But not all forms of mold are bad. Although I am allergic to this type of mold, Penicillin was a significant medical discovery that has and continues to help many people suffering from infections. Traces of mold and other fungi are also found in different types of food such as cheese, mushrooms, yeast, soy sauce and hotdogs.
Mold is also used in the aging process of some wines and cheeses. For blue cheese, the milk is curdled (as in regular cheese) and mixed with moldy bread that has been ground into fine dust. Whey is removed from the curds and then it takes time to age. The mold acts upon the curds as the cheese ripens, giving it that smooth texture and the sharp taste and odor.
Be careful when you see mold on your foods however... especially foods like cream cheese or sour cream with oil or water bases because although it looks like you could just scrape that tiny bit of mold at the top of the container, mold has probably spread throughout the liquid base.
www.ehow.com/how-does_5194628_blue-cheese-mold.html
www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/mold-allergy
Mold is disgusting, and I've seen it a lot of the past couple years living off campus. I recently had to go buy a shower curtain due to mold. That stuff is so bad for you and I heard it can definately get you sick if you're around it too much. At one of the off campus houses last year i saw mold growing in this house's kitchen and on the ceiling. I didn't know that they used mold in some cases of wine and cheese, that's pretty interesting.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. Look at the ceiling in the computer lab. I think there's some mold growing there...
ReplyDeleteMold can definitely make you sick. Mold can also severely decrease the resale value of a home, because it is usually a good indicator of some type of leak or ventilation issue somewhere in the house.
Just the idea of eating something with mold all over it, or having been sitting out long enough for it to accumulate mold makes me not want to even consider eating it. The most frequent foods that in which I see that accumulate mold is definitely breads, bagels and milk. Last week I left the coffee grains in my coffee pot for about a week and when i went to take it out to make a cup there was mold all over it. It was disgusting I had to sanitize and clean out the whole pot. I don't want to risk getting sick at all and I especially hate throwing up.
ReplyDelete