The Everyday Pantry Item That Can Literally Explode Under The Right Conditions

It's a quiet evening in May 1878 when a massive explosion rocked Minneapolis as the Washburn A Mill — the largest flour mill in the world at the time — exploded, leaving over a dozen dead. The cause for the devastation was surprising, which was the ignition of the heavy flour dust cloud covering the factory by two millstones grinding against one another, which made a fateful spark. It's an extreme example of a very real problem you might not even be aware of: under the right conditions, flour can actually explode.

All types of flour, just like every other carbohydrate, like sugar, are extremely flammable. A bit of oxygen and some heat ... and fwoosh, they're burning. Here's the interesting part, though: if you take a lighter to a pile of flour sitting on the counter (please don't try it at home!), it'd just burn. In a pile, only the flour on the exterior has access to oxygen. The flour buried deeper into the pile does not, so it can't erupt all at once into an explosion.

But if you were to spill a sack of flour and kick a cloud of flour into the air, however, that's when you're moving into dangerous territory. Every tiny particle of flour now has free access to oxygen, and all it takes is a spark for a disaster to happen.

Everyone who's ever worked with flour will have made a cloud or two, guaranteed. It's really easy to make a mess when working with it (and now that you know it can explode, it could be a bit unnerving). The good news is that you can control the dust situation, and all you need to do is develop good kitchen-working habits.

First things first, instead of keeping your flour in a sack, transfer it into a solid container. Not only is it easier to store and use, you're less likely to make a mess anytime you need to measure a cup or two of flour for your homemade English muffins. And, while you're at it, when you pour the flour into the container, do it slowly. Too much, too fast, and poof — you've got a big cloud of flour dust in your kitchen.

Next, don't dump dry flour into a working mixer. We know it's a lot more convenient to upturn the entire bowl of dry flour into the wet batter as it's being whisked when you're prepping the dough for your Chicago-style deep dish pizza, but it's also a convenient way to kick up a mess. Instead, do it slowly, a teeny measure of flour at a time. Other than not spilling flour everywhere on your work surface, you can avoid an explosive situation, too. It's a pretty fair trade for an extra minute or two of flour-pouring, we'd say!