Mold on Bread
Opening a package of bread and pulling out slices decorated with mold is frustrating and distasteful, but one of our most commonly used antibiotics, penicillin, may have had its beginnings as mold on bread. Today, many people experiment with mold by purposefully growing it on bread slices.
Going back in history to ancient days, a slab of moldy bread was applied to wounds as a healing measure. While these practices were certainly not scientific, it did lay the foundation for future scientists and researchers to continue investigating the valuable properties of mold. It wasn’t until 1928 that it was discovered that mold actually killed live bacteria.
However helpful it may have been in discovering that mold could be used in a beneficial manner, it is still a bit disconcerting to find mold on bread that you had planned to eat. Mold has specific environmental needs in order to grow. Since it is a living organism, it requires food, moisture and the ideal temperature. Of these, moisture is the most important, as water is necessary to the very existence of mold. The composition of mold is mostly water, similar to humans. Temperature is the next condition that mold relies on; preferring the warmth of around 80
