The bacon sold in these parts is cured (or "dry cured"?), and I don't think it's ever refrigerated before you take it home. In any event, it's always either sitting in an open display or hanging by strings at the butchers.
When you first buy it, it often has a film of white, powdery stuff on it. I can't tell if this is salt that is leaching out or a fine film of mold. Either way, it washes right off, and I don't think it'd be possible to get bacon here without it.
But...
After about a week or so, it starts to get other growth on it - what I'd call REAL mold. This is often blue or green circles up to about the size of a fingertip, slightly fuzzy and fringed with white. The same kind of stuff you might see on moldy bread. The first time this happened, I'd had the bacon wrapped tightly in a plastic bag in the fridge, and it did seem to be moisture-related. Not wanting to throw away perfectly good food, I googled everything I could, and I read that cured meat often has mold so thick you're supposed to scrape it off. So I washed it with the back of a sponge until it looked brand new, sliced it, fried it, and ate it. It was delicious.
So now, a week or so later, I pull out the still-sizable slab, and it's covered in mold again. Maybe a dozen or so fingernail sized, blue-green circles. Knowing that I *could* wash/scrape it off, I'm still hesitant to continue eating something that looks like this: picture (linked b/c possibly Not Safe For Lunch)
Anybody have experience/advice with such bacon mold? Should I just scrape it off? Should I toss the slab (they aren't cheap here) and store the next one differently?
When you first buy it, it often has a film of white, powdery stuff on it. I can't tell if this is salt that is leaching out or a fine film of mold. Either way, it washes right off, and I don't think it'd be possible to get bacon here without it.
But...
After about a week or so, it starts to get other growth on it - what I'd call REAL mold. This is often blue or green circles up to about the size of a fingertip, slightly fuzzy and fringed with white. The same kind of stuff you might see on moldy bread. The first time this happened, I'd had the bacon wrapped tightly in a plastic bag in the fridge, and it did seem to be moisture-related. Not wanting to throw away perfectly good food, I googled everything I could, and I read that cured meat often has mold so thick you're supposed to scrape it off. So I washed it with the back of a sponge until it looked brand new, sliced it, fried it, and ate it. It was delicious.
So now, a week or so later, I pull out the still-sizable slab, and it's covered in mold again. Maybe a dozen or so fingernail sized, blue-green circles. Knowing that I *could* wash/scrape it off, I'm still hesitant to continue eating something that looks like this: picture (linked b/c possibly Not Safe For Lunch)
Anybody have experience/advice with such bacon mold? Should I just scrape it off? Should I toss the slab (they aren't cheap here) and store the next one differently?
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