Julia Altshuler wrote:

>
> The other day my boss had another idea: What if we made gourmet bread
> crumbs? He asked how to make bread crumbs. My co-worker and I agreed
> that it was a simple matter of breaking up the bread in a blender,
> adding some dried herbs like basil and oregano, and spinning the
> blender. I said we should toast the bread first; she said we didn't
> even have to do that.
>
> Two problems: First, we're not sure if our customers are in the market
> for gourmet bread crumbs, but even beyond that, we're thinking the bread
> crumbs would go bad. At home, I keep them in my freezer. If I don't,
> they go moldy like any bread. At which point my boss asked about the
> bread crumbs you buy in the store. What keeps them from getting moldy?
> Good question, so I thought I'd ask all of you. Is it a matter of a
> preservative that we could put in them? Or could we dry them enough in
> the oven and sell them in a sealed container such that the mold wouldn't
> be interested?
>

I never have problems with bread crumbs going bad. I have a basket on the
counter where I leave bits of bread to dry out. When the basket is full I
get out the food processor and grind the dried bread into crumbs. Then I
keep it in a zip lock bag in the cupboard.

One thing I have to wonder.... right now you are a wine and cheese vendor.
You might want to check your local laws to see if grinding up crumbs and
bagging them up for sale is going to make you subject to food processing
regulations.