Is there a good side to mold? Something beyond penicillin?
Yes. Assuming you have access to the outdoors and live somewhere where winter is active. Or, if you have a freezer.
Right now, we don’t have a freezer. The seal on our freezer failed. And there was buildup of ice inside the freezer drawer. Which lead to an excess of moisture behind the entire freezer-refrigerator. Which led to the wall behind the refrigerator having, well, mold. Unpleasant to look at.
We pulled the refrigerator, defrosted, and have new seals coming. The wall will be repaired for mold. In the meantime, if we want to keep something cold, we do it on our screened in porch. It’s been snowing and blowing so the porch, as you can see in the picture above, is something we can’t control. It can 30 degrees out there, or 20, or lower.
And that’s where the discovery came. We make lemonade year round. Our fundamental recipe can be found here: http://wp.me/pXlEP-hQ. It’s a sweet, rich mixture of whole lemons and sugar that have been blended with water into a viscous wonder. Ordinarily, we make it, store it in the refrigerator, and serve with ice cubes. Now there is no refrigerator. We stored our last batches of lemonade on the porch. At 5 degrees, even lemon juice and sugar begin to freeze. Our pitcher went from liquid to slushy to almost totally frozen. We broke the chunks apart with a wooden spoon, let them warm to bitting slushiness, and enjoyed every swallow.
So, here’s the suggestion. Make the lemonade at http://wp.me/pXlEP-hQ. Put it in a metal or plastic container — not glass since water expands when it freezes and you don’t want a chance of shattered glass in your freezer. Put the container in your freezer until it reaches the slushy level you want. Too frozen? Just a few minute at room temperature and you’ll achieve the texture you want.
About water expanding when it freezes. That means ice floats. If ice did not float, then in a few winters, the oceans would be frozen over. Frozen solid. And that would end life one earth, totally. No penguins, no people, no lemons, no lemonade. Ponder that with each sip!