How to Make Flour Taste Safe for Sensory Activities
Flour is a commonly used ingredient for many sensory activities. It is used to make play dough, moon sand and many Kinect ox sands. However, unless properly heat treated, raw flour can contain bacteria such as Salmonella and pathogenic E. coli that can cause serious illness.
Here is the FDA’s fact sheet on safe food handling with flour
Luckily, there are a few ways to remove potential bacteria from your flour to make it taste safe for sensory activities.
How to Heat Treat Flour to Make it Taste Safe
These bacteria’s that can be present in raw flour can be eliminated by heating the flour to a point in which it will kill the bacteria. Source
Oven Method
Place the desired amount of flour onto a cookie sheet and cook for 5 minutes at 350 degrees. Let the flour completely cool before using in a recipe.
Microwave Method
While the oven method is the best option, you can also heat your flour in the microwave. Love the desired amount of flour into a microwave safe bowl and heat for one minute. You’ll need to have a cooking thermometer on hand to make sure that the flour in the center of the bowl has heated to at least 160 degrees.
Now that you know how to make your flour taste safe, here’s some great activities to make for your little one:
