One of the reasons people love our LilyBee Bread Bags is that they can help bread stay lovely and soft for longer. So it can be pretty disappointing to open your bag after several days and discover that, although your bread is still beautifully soft, a little patch of mould has appeared.

Does that mean your beeswax bread bag isn’t working?

Not necessarily. In fact, the softness of the bread is a pretty good clue that the bag is doing its job. The important thing is that keeping bread from going stale and keeping bread from developing mould are two different things.

Stale bread and mouldy bread aren’t the same thing

Bread goes stale partly because it loses moisture and undergoes changes in its starches. A LilyBee Bread Bag helps create a breathable protective environment around your loaf, reducing moisture loss without sealing the bread inside plastic.

That can help your bread remain soft and pleasant to eat for longer.

Mould, however, is caused by fungi. Mould spores are naturally present in our environment and can also already be present on food before we bring it home.

A beeswax bread bag isn’t a preservative and it doesn’t sterilise your bread. So while it can help slow down the process of your bread becoming dry and stale, it can’t guarantee that mould won’t develop.

Why does one loaf last longer than another?

This is where things get a little unpredictable.

How quickly bread develops mould can depend on the type of bread, how moist it is, whether it contains preservatives, how fresh it was when you bought it, and the temperature and humidity where it is stored.

A moist artisan loaf with few or no preservatives, for example, may develop mould sooner than a commercially produced loaf containing preservatives - even though the artisan loaf is still wonderfully soft.

And, of course, our warm and sometimes humid New Zealand weather can make a difference too.

That’s why we don’t like making promises that a LilyBee Bread Bag will keep every loaf fresh for a particular number of days. There are simply too many variables outside the bag’s control.

A few tips for getting the best from your LilyBee Bread Bag

Make sure freshly baked bread has cooled completely before putting it into your bag. Any extra warmth and moisture trapped around the loaf can create conditions that mould rather likes.

Store your bread bag somewhere cool and dry, away from direct sunlight and sources of heat.

If you live alone or simply don’t eat a whole loaf very quickly, there’s another very simple solution: freeze part of it while it’s still fresh.

Keep enough bread in your LilyBee bag for the next few days and freeze the rest. Bring out more as you need it. That way you get the convenience of your reusable bread bag without asking one loaf to sit at room temperature for a week or more.

What if bread has already gone mouldy in my bag?

First, discard the mouldy bread.

Then wash your LilyBee Bread Bag in cool water with a little dishwashing liquid, rinse it well and leave it open to air dry completely before using it again.

You don’t need to assume your bag is ruined simply because a loaf developed mould inside it.

So, is my bread bag working?

If your bread is staying softer for longer, then yes - your LilyBee Bread Bag is doing what it was designed to do.

It helps protect your bread, reduce moisture loss and provide a reusable alternative to disposable food storage. What it can’t do is turn fresh bread into a shelf-stable food or guarantee that mould will never appear.

Sometimes the loaf that stays beautifully soft for six days is also the loaf that decides to grow a fuzzy spot on day six.

Bread, unfortunately, doesn’t always read the instructions. 😉