start loading up your freezer with bread...badass fungus on the way.

[ourbluenation]

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_ug99_fungus/

The enemy is Ug99, a fungus that causes stem rust, a calamitous disease of wheat. Its spores alight on a wheat leaf, then work their way into the flesh of the plant and hijack its metabolism, siphoning off nutrients that would otherwise fatten the grains. The pathogen makes its presence known to humans through crimson pustules on the plant’s stems and leaves. When those pustules burst, millions of spores flare out in search of fresh hosts. The ravaged plant then withers and dies, its grains shriveled into useless pebbles

snip

The pathogen has already been detected in Iran and may now be headed for South Asia’s most important breadbasket, the Punjab, which nourishes hundreds of millions of Indians and Pakistanis. What’s more, Ug99 could easily make the transoceanic leap to the United States. All it would take is for a single spore, barely bigger than a red blood cell, to latch onto the shirt of an oblivious traveler. The toll from that would be ruinous; the US Department of Agriculture estimates that more than 40 million acres of wheat would be at serious risk if Ug99 came to these shores, where the grain is the third most valuable crop, trailing only corn and soybeans. The economic loss might easily exceed $10 billion; a simple loaf of bread could become a luxury. “If this stuff gets into the Western Hemisphere,” Steffenson says, “God help us.”

[nebenaube]

1. this stuff is in the western hemisphere already...

I remember reading some article about an ag school playing with it here in mid-west just a few years ago.

[ourbluenation]

5. but that's in a controlled situatiom. this is about it infecting wheat en masse around the globe. n/

[RaleighNCDUer]

28. And my tinfoil hat comes out.

What a DEVASTATING biological weapon that would be. And it is first loosed in Iran. What a coincidence.

[Trillo]

49. Hmm, GMO to the rescue? n/t

[MrsCorleone]

59. The green light for Ug99 resistant GM wheat shouldn't be far behind.

This is getting ridiculously predictable.

[Warpy]

2. You mean load your freezer with flour

It's a lot more compact to store than fully baked bread.

Baking bread is the easiest thing in the world now that no knead recipes that thrive on neglect are out.

Flour stored at room temperature will eventually grow weevils, no matter how carefully it is sealed up. It's best to refrigerate it if you don't have freezer space.

If the human race were smart, it would begin a program of shipping flour to affected areas so that wheat fields could be burned over and left fallow for five years or so, possibly long enough for the spores to die, with a program to burn over any infected land thereafter.

Unfortunately, we're not smart.

Hope y'all have discovered corn tortillas as an alternative.

[Codeine]

7. Tortillas are nasty.

I'm sure this is more hype and hysteria than reality.

[Warpy]

12. Tortillas are great, very versatile

but they don't work with tuna salad. You need to season your food quite differently to use them.

I live in tortilla central, New Mexico. Culture shock was walking into a grocery and seeing only 2 types of pasta and 3 types of bread but ten different local brands of fresh tortilla and probably 20 chile varieties.

[Lisa0825]

42. I love tortillas! I rarely buy bread anymore.

I make wraps way more often than sandwiches. I make cheese quesadillas instead of grilled cheese, too!

[ourbluenation]

8. you are right. i make a mean irish soda bread that couldn't be easier. n/t

[givemebackmycountry]

31. Oh man, I LOVE Irish soda bread -

I have to talk my Mom into making a loaf.
I'm 54 now but she used to make it when I was a kid and man, was that stuff good.
Toasted and with real butter?
mmmmmmmmmmmm

[ourbluenation]

35. see post 23 for recipe. so easy.

[Hissyspit]

40. My favorite bread recipe cook book:

Almost every bread in the world.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Encyclopedia-Bread-Making-Full-colour/dp/1859679129

[Kalyke]

11. I still couldn't make it.

I can cook and create (make-up off the top of my head) fantastic meals, but I can't bake bread. I couldn't even bake it with the no-knead recipes you speak of. I can't make biscuits with Bisquick, for example.

I can make cakes, pies and even cornbread, but I cannot, for the life of me, make regular bread.

[Warpy]

21. The secret to baking decent bread is NOT proofing the yeast

Mix it right into the flour and use cool tap water to make the dough. Then walk away for as long as it takes for the whole business to start working.

I let it work overnight here in the desert because my kitchen stays in the 50s. Besides, at high altitude, it takes that long to develop flavor.

The next day, when it looks right, I shape it, rise it again, and throw it into the oven to bake.

It couldn't be easier and it's always at least edible and often terrific.

[ourbluenation]

23. My Irish mama's "brown bread" recipe - you can make it, I promise...

Preheat oven to 400


Mix together...
2 cups wheat flour
1 cups white flour

sift 1 heaping tsp of baking soda into flour mixture
add 1/2 teaspoon salt

mix it all together then add 2 cups of buttermilk.

Bake for 50 minutes at 400

remove from bread pan immediately and stand bread on it's side, wrapped in a dishtowel to release steam and keeps crust form getting really hard.

I've also made this with soy milk and regular 2% and it was equally delicious.

[susu369]

54. Interesting recipe

do you use self-rising flour?

[ourbluenation]

55. all purpose

[susu369]

57. Thanks

I've got to try this.

[ashling]

25. Please 'splain

Flour stored at room temperature will eventually grow weevils, no matter how carefully it is sealed up. It's best to refrigerate it if you don't have freezer space.

[Demeter]

33. weevil eggs in the flour

either on the grain or introduced during milling.

weevils cannot grow in the freezer. weevils are killed by heat, also, when bread is baked, for example.

[ashling]

53. So you're saying that the weevil eggs are in there

no matter what.

Reminds me of the line from Master and Commander about the lesser of two weevils.
:hi:

[Warpy]

61. Eggs are tiny and all flour has them.

Our food supply is not sterile, far from it. All food laws do is cite maximum numbers of things like eggs, rodent hairs, and insect parts per stated volume our food can have.

[bobbolink]

45. "If the human race were smart, it would begin a program of shipping flour to affected areas "

I like your suggestion.

In times past, when the US had a soul, we would probably do something like this.

Now, we are so MEMYMINE, that we don't even give a rip if it affects US.

:cry:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

58. Last week i took my bread machine out of hiding. I hadn't used it in years. What a blast

having fresh yummy bread.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. This sounds like a bioterrorist's wet dream

How likely is it that terrorists have failed to think of using this fungus as a biological weapon? The results would be absolutely devastating.

[havocmom]

13. how likely that the economic terrorists known as global corporations have failed to think about it?

Wanna make bets about Monsanto having a modified seed that is resistant in their pipeline? They sure are set on wiping out independent farmers' ability to grow food without buying patented seed.

The real threats are the greedy multi-nationals who have no allegiance to anything but money.

[Cirque du So-What]

20. You're probably correct

I put nothing past Monsanto.

[Warpy]

22. The problem with a weapon like this one is its spread

will eventually be universal. Think about it: wheat is what allowed the human race to grow and develop in the first place, a mutation of grass that offered a nutrient packed seed and grew easily in most temperate locations, higher in protein than most other grains.

This is a big deal. I think we could probably slow it down but we won't be able to stop it unless we do some really intense GMO work on wheat, work that will have unintended consequences, itself.

[customerserviceguy]

50. Well, I wouldn't say that exactly

Human civilization, certainly, but the human race was around for many millenia prior to agriculture.

[Chulanowa]

24. Terrorists?

Frankly, my friend, you should be more frightened of high-altitude winds in this case.

[happyslug]

46. For the same reason the US Army rejected Biological warfare in the 1950s

When the Army studied Biological Weapons in the 1950s, the biggest problem was that by its very nature biological warfare have no limits. Once released the Biological agent will affect both sides equally. In fact the Army found only one circumstance where use of a biological weapon would be useful, that is to cover a retreating army down a peninsula and then evacuating that army. The reason it worked in that circumstance was the retreating army could get treatment for the biological agent once excavated, while the attacking army would find its supply lines tied up with causalities and the need to replace them. Remember this was the ONLY TIME THE US ARMY DETERMINED A BIOLOGICAL AGENT WOULD BE USEFUL, any other time it harmed the defenders as much as the attacker. It was for this reason the US and Soviet Governments agreed to ban biological weapons in the early 1970s (i.e. useless, so both sides agree to ban them).

Such because the terrorists are terrorist do not mean they are stupid. Attack on food translate to opposition to they cause WITH no good side (Greater harm to the enemy). Terrorist want to show POWER not kill people (Unless killing people is a way to show power, an attack on Food kills people, but does NOT show the Power to kill people, like executing a person in front of his family). Furthermore Biological weapons are NOT selective, it kills your enemies as while as your supporters. Thus support is diminished (Which no Terrorist group wants).

To see what I am discussing look at the terrorist bombings over the last 50 years, they are NEVER in neighborhoods where the terrorists have massive support, but at people who oppose them, are neutral to them, or part of the system to suppress them. Terrorist do not drop bombs any old place, they try to pick a place where it did the most good for them. The problem with Biological weapons is it is hard to restrict its use one's enemies, unlike a bomb which can be planted among one's enemies and if detonated kill people around it NOT people miles away who happen to support the terrorists.

No Biological weapons may have some call to an anarchist groups who want to destroy ALL Governments, but not to the vast Majority of Terrorists who basically want to overthrow some existing Government and to do so need support. That support is undermined if the Terrorist act kills one's own supporters in the same numbers as one's enemies. Thus biological weapons have no call to terrorists.

[Gman]

4. Texas A&M will fix it

[dgibby]

30. Unless Va Tech gets there first!

Go HOKIES! :evilgrin: :rofl:

[havocmom]

6. One more reason the 'Homeland' is not secure with such reliance on imported foods

Makes me crazy that a nation as blessed as the US has such a reliance on imported foods. Too many bad consequences and the only real benefit if global corporate profits and spoiled Americans getting out of season fruits and vegetables year round.

The devastation to others so we get cheap eats is shameful. The footprint on the environment is horrible. Takes a lot of energy to grow and harvest foods. Add the fuel to ship and we have a massive cost to the environment.

Now, more plant pathogens spreading. Too much risk.

Time for people to start diversifying on what they use for carb sources. Past time, actually. This is one more example of why. Rely too much on one plant, there will come a time of devastating famine because of it.

[villager]

15. Nor are we secure with Big Ag monocultures

Obviously, when you have vast tracts of single crops... it just takes a single pest, or pathogen, to bring 'em down...

[havocmom]

26. Absolutely!

One wonders if reliance on mono-culture food crops might also be a contributing factor to many health issues and allergy/inflammation/immune disorders. Too much of anything is not good. We need variety for a variety of reasons.

[gateley]

17. +1

[Uben]

9. Wheat schmeat

I don't need the gluten anyway.

[havocmom]

16. More and more of us in same situation. BUT, famine will ensue if wheat goes bust

Long term, we would probably be better off with MUCH less wheat, but the transition to reliance on more diverse grains will be a real hardship, a fatal hardship, for many.

[dgibby]

34. Forget the stock market.

Stock up on flour. It'll be worth more than gold if this goes global.

[havocmom]

39. OR.... stock up on beans

Lots of beans can be made into flour. Plus all the other wonderful ways to cook them.

Amybody in the US southwest might consider saving all those mesquite pods they usually rake up and grumble about as they bag and toss them.

[PDittie]

29. Right.

I'm diabetic so I don't eat bread of any kind if I can help it.

[Jennicut]

48. I am a diabetic too. I try to eat whole grain bread. The white stuff just shoots

my blood sugar out of the sky. But rye, pumpernickel, whole wheat and even sourdough seem to be okay. They make whole wheat pasta too, which I love. I can only have 45 to 60 grams a carb a meal but I really don't need much more than that.

[RaleighNCDUer]

36. Yeah, but without wheat the price of my gluten-free oats will double.

Those who are denied wheat are not going to just stop eating, which means skyrocketing prices for non-wheat grains.

[LeftyMom]

52. More for me!

mmm, wheat gluten. :drool:

[Nikki Stone1]

10. Food is the next locus of global control.

Lots of "food safety" issues are being used to consolidate that control.

[havocmom]

19. Water too, for same reasons

Getting harder to grow your own, especially if water gets owned by massive corporations.

[Nikki Stone1]

27. Exactly.

We are fucked.

[northofdenali]

14. I recently bought (very cheaply) 100 lb. of good organic flour.

Stored in 5-lb. freezer bags in our big freezer. I didn't know about this fungus, just was able to get inexpensive, good flour for next to nothing. Now I see that my "rebagging" effort was well worth it. I make most of our bread, and can get beautiful whole wheat flour from the Matanuska Valley as well.

Now, if they fuck up my yeast, I'll really be screwed. (Except for my sourdough starter....maybe.)

[Fumesucker]

18. I like rye bread just fine..

Even better, no one else in the family does..

[Hannah Bell]

32. be afraid, be very afraid. always be afraid. the fate of the globe is on your shoulders.

[aquart]

37. How do you kill it?

[ourbluenation]

38. from the article...

He and his fellow scientists around the world are scrambling to halt the pathogen. To do so, they must figure out a way to reach deep within the wheat genome and create genetic barriers that Ug99 cannot overcome. And they must do so quickly, before the pestilence moves on to the next continent, and then the one after that — wreaking havoc on the world’s food supply.

[aquart]

63. We really haven't grasped that famine is a side effect of climate change.

[Uncle Joe]

41. Even if it doesn't and that's a long shot, I imagine the price of wheat will be shooting up.

"If this stuff gets into the Western Hemisphere,” Steffenson says, “God help us.”

Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, ourbluenation.

[dixiegrrrrl]

43. Those of us who cannot eat gluten have freezers full

of rice and other non-gluten flours.
And thank god for tortillas.
Tho I hate the idea of GMO corn, which seems to be everywhere.

[Blue-Jay]

44. Everybody panic!

[kestrel91316]

47. I am already loaded up on wheat berries, which I grind myself into flour.

Wheat is not the only grain. People need to consume (and provide a market for) MANY grains: corn (no lack of market there), rice, quinoa, spelt, buckwheat, more corn, etc etc. And learn to grow your own on a small scale, just in case.

[progressoid]

51. Monsanto to the rescue!!

I'm only somewhat joking. Those assholes will probably patent some gene mutation and start filing lawsuits against farmers in Uganda for misusing "their" grain.

[Doremus]

56. Is this about Monsanto and our easy acceptance of their patented seed?

Just sayin'.

[eShirl]

60. please, don't give those fig pluckers any ideas.

[Doremus]

62. Sorry to break it to you but they hardly need anybody else's ideas.

They've been heading down this road a long time without anyone's help.