This natural oil stops mold from growing on your bread

If you're like me, you probably love to eat homemade bread. Unfortunately, the healthiest breads — fresh, homemade bread — molds and stales quicker than processed breads. But now there's a simple way to keep bread fresh longer ... naturally.

Researchers have found that wrapping baked goods, such as bread, with cinnamon-laced wax paper protects it from molding. Even with bread already tainted with mold, you can wrap it in a paper containing 6% cinnamon oil, and it will inhibit the mold's growth by 96%.

But that's not all. The cinnamon-laced paper will prolong freshness for up to 10 days. Plain wax paper did not have any positive effect. Interestingly, wrapping the bread in the cinnamon-laced paper worked better than adding the spice to the bread.

In addition, the paper also may be effective in keeping fruits, vegetables, and meats fresh.

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This is great news — a way to inhibit mold that does not use toxic chemicals. "Mold inhibitors" are very popular. You'll find them on many products. But many are highly toxic.

With bread prone to molding, you now have a wonderful safe way to protect your goods. And it's environmentally friendly.

Since adding powdered cinnamon to the bread didn't work as well, it likely won't work if you just sprinkled it on the bread or the paper. But you can certainly try it.

You also could try putting your own cinnamon oil (which is readily available at grocery stores and health food stores) on wax paper, but that's messy. And it may make your bread a little too spicy.

You can find cinnamon wax paper online and in some specialty food shops.

Yours for better health and medical freedom,

Ref: New York Times, August 29, 2008.