When I first moved to Bequia, “picking” rice was a tedious but necessary process, a time-consuming chore that was carried out in every household on the island. The Guyanese rice wasn’t very clean; edible grains had to be painstakingly separated from inedible matter, then washed before cooking. Inert objects were easy enough to deal with during this “picking” process, but the tiny bugs crawling through the rice were a downright nuisance. These tiny black beetles were called “weevils”, insidious insects that seemed to invade any packaged food in my cupboards, even that stored in airtight containers, and I grew to loathe the sight of them.
Weevils don’t carry disease, neither do they bite or sting. They’re harmless to humans, although the tiny beetles can damage plants and farm crops as well as stored food products. They’re able to live in almost all environments but, because weevils are attracted to moisture, they look for ways to get into homes when the weather is hot and dry. They like any grain-based food such as flour, rice, oats, cornmeal and pasta, and can infest produce even when it’s tightly sealed. It’s easy to buy packaged food already tainted because weevil eggs are almost invisible to the naked eye; odds are good that the flour, pasta, cornmeal oats and rice you purchase at the grocery store contain weevils in one form or another, and why a sealed package that appeared intact when it was bought starts to crawl with the pests at a later date.
When selecting pasta at the supermarket I give each end of the box a sharp tap on the shelf; if the box contains live weevils a couple will probably tumble out, and I then have the option of passing on the pasta purchase! However, even a seemingly perfect-looking box of spaghetti can and WILL produce weevils if eggs have already been laid, so a good trick is to store pasta in the freezer so they can’t hatch. Yes, you’ll probably be eating microscopic-sized eggs when you cook your pasta, but they aren’t poisonous so no harm done – perhaps they’re even nutritious!
We no longer have to pick our rice on Bequia, it arrives clean and sealed in a plastic bag, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have to pick out the odd “evil weevil”. The tiny black beetles may be harmless, but no-one wants to see them mixed in with cooked food. As for the wee eggs – don’t worry! You’ve been eating them all your life in your pasta, cornmeal, oats and rice to mention just a few of the grain-based foods you ingest regularly. Relax, and bon appetit!
