Is This Food OK to Eat or Should I Toss It?

[aurora8202]

I need to make cornmeal muffins tonight and I need to know if it is normal for cornmeal to have lots of black specs in it?
I don't know how old it is, my Grandma gave it to me the other day it is in a glass jar.
I hope it is okay, I have no way of getting new stuff tonight.

[ellenmelon]

Well, if it is stoneground it will have some specks in it.
Do you have a magnifying glass that you could look a little closer at some of the specks? If there's legs and they are moving forget it!
If it's some kind of mold I think you could use it because the heat in baking will kill it but it might have an off flavor. Did you sniff it to see if it smells fresh?
Can you call your grandmother and ask her about it's history or does this fall under don't look a gift horse in the mouth?
Make a small batch and see how it looks and tastes?
How many little black specks? Even my Quaker cornmeal in the cylinder cardboard carton has a few.

[aurora8202]

Thanks for responding
I decided that the specks are too big, I have had cornmeal with some darker specks in it, but this has too many and they are just a little bit bigger than the grains of cornmeal. I can't look closer but I'm sure they're not moving, lol. I did have cornmeal with bugs in it once. They were bigger than this and all dead, red colored things.
I just made a different kind of muffin and it will have to do.
Thank you!

[goldeagle1]

You were smart to make different muffins! I think the odds are that those black specs are bugs (albiet dead ones)!

[RobertaD]

I keep my cornmeal and flour in the freezer at all times to avoid bugs. Works well as it can take me a year to go through a big bag of cornmeal.

Roberta