UV Breadbox prevents mold

by Nicole Weston, Posted Aug 25th 2006 @ 10:03AM

It started with a relatively simple question: how do you improve a breadbox? The answer is that you add a UV lighting system that suppresses the growth of mold, extending the shelf-life of a loaf of bread. This is a particularly neat feature if you by preservative-free loaves of sandwich bread that seem to go bad in only two days.

Installing the light into a reflective, brushed-steel breadbox was a relatively simple matter once you have all the necessary equipment (and if you like building things). But the moment of truth came when the modified breadbox was tested against an unmodified box. The breads in the non-UV box molded in 2 weeks; the UV breads did not mold (though they did eventually dry up after several weeks, by which point you should have eaten the bread). Success!

Total cost of the project: $65. Never having to throw away another half-uneaten loaf that turned moldy: priceless.

[via SciFi Tech]

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Filed Under: Hacking Food, Ingredients, How To
Tags: breadbox, food, food hack, food safety, gadget, grains, hack, hacking food, science, science project, spoil, uv