Barbecue (alt.food.barbecue) Discuss barbecue and grilling--southern style "low and slow" smoking of ribs, shoulders and briskets, as well as direct heat grilling of everything from burgers to salmon to vegetables.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair,alt.food.barbecue,rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?

How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?

I don't use a dishwasher (for a variety of unrelated reasons).
What I use is:
- Warm water (simply becuase it feels better on hands)
- Costco dish detergent concentrate (whatever was on sale, Dawn or Palmolive)
- Costco curvy yellow/green scotchbrite sponges (in the multi-pack)

Each morning or evening (whenever I remember), I do the following:
a. I gently squeeze the sponge (if it's soaking wet)
b. I put it in the freezer drawer panel
c. I replace with a dry sponge (from a basket under the kitchen sink)
d. I put the old freezer sponge under the kitchen sink (in a basket)
e. Over time (as needed), I throw away & rotate with a new sponge

The concept is to let three things lessen the number of bacteria:
1. Time spent wet is never longer than a day
2. Freezer is simply one inhibitant to bacterial growth
3. Drying is just another inhibitant to bacterial growth

In the past, I tried boiling, soaking in alcohol, vinegar, and even bleach,
but most of that made the sponges fall apart, whereas freezing and drying
doesn't seem to damage the sponge in the least.

How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?
  #2 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair,alt.food.barbecue,rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?

On 10/4/2018 7:44 AM, Arlen Holder wrote:
> How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?
>
> I don't use a dishwasher (for a variety of unrelated reasons).
> What I use is:
> - Warm water (simply becuase it feels better on hands)
> - Costco dish detergent concentrate (whatever was on sale, Dawn or Palmolive)
> - Costco curvy yellow/green scotchbrite sponges (in the multi-pack)
>
> Each morning or evening (whenever I remember), I do the following:
> a. I gently squeeze the sponge (if it's soaking wet)
> b. I put it in the freezer drawer panel
> c. I replace with a dry sponge (from a basket under the kitchen sink)
> d. I put the old freezer sponge under the kitchen sink (in a basket)
> e. Over time (as needed), I throw away & rotate with a new sponge
>
> The concept is to let three things lessen the number of bacteria:
> 1. Time spent wet is never longer than a day
> 2. Freezer is simply one inhibitant to bacterial growth
> 3. Drying is just another inhibitant to bacterial growth
>
> In the past, I tried boiling, soaking in alcohol, vinegar, and even bleach,
> but most of that made the sponges fall apart, whereas freezing and drying
> doesn't seem to damage the sponge in the least.
>
> How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?
>

Very simple. I don't use sponges. I use wash rags. I use them
once and then they go to the laundry. Much more hygienic.

Bill

  #3 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair,alt.food.barbecue,rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?

On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 08:07:14 -0500, Bill Gill wrote:

> I don't use sponges. I use wash rags. I use them
> once and then they go to the laundry. Much more hygienic.


That's a good idea, where the washing and drying presumably kills the
bacteria (in addition to cleaning out food debris).

How do you scotch brite though?
  #4 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair,alt.food.barbecue,rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?

On Thu, 04 Oct 2018 08:21:22 -0500, CRNG wrote:

> Try taking the sponge, rinsing/squeezing it in plain water a couple of
> times. Then place the soaked sponge on a disk and place in microwave.
> Heat until the soaked sponge starts to boil off water. Remove
> plate/sponge and let cool.


The microwave seems like a good idea, if it doesn't destroy the sponge.
  #5 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair,alt.food.barbecue,rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?

On 10/4/2018 9:07 AM, Bill Gill wrote:
> On 10/4/2018 7:44 AM, Arlen Holder wrote:
>> How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?
>>
>> I don't use a dishwasher (for a variety of unrelated reasons).
>> What I use is:
>> - Warm water (simply becuase it feels better on hands)
>> - Costco dish detergent concentrate (whatever was on sale, Dawn or
>> Palmolive)
>> - Costco curvy yellow/green scotchbrite sponges (in the multi-pack)
>>
>> Each morning or evening (whenever I remember), I do the following:
>> a. I gently squeeze the sponge (if it's soaking wet)
>> b. I put it in the freezer drawer panel
>> c. I replace with a dry sponge (from a basket under the kitchen sink)
>> d. I put the old freezer sponge under the kitchen sink (in a basket)
>> e. Over time (as needed), I throw away & rotate with a new sponge
>>
>> The concept is to let three things lessen the number of bacteria:
>> 1. Time spent wet is never longer than a day
>> 2. Freezer is simply one inhibitant to bacterial growth
>> 3. Drying is just another inhibitant to bacterial growth
>>
>> In the past, I tried boiling, soaking in alcohol, vinegar, and even
>> bleach,
>> but most of that made the sponges fall apart, whereas freezing and drying
>> doesn't seem to damage the sponge in the least.
>>
>> How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?
>>

> Very simple.Â* I don't use sponges.Â* I use wash rags.Â* I use them
> once and then they go to the laundry.Â* Much more hygienic.
>
> Bill
>


This.


  #6 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair,alt.food.barbecue,rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?

On 10/5/2018 2:49 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:
> On Thu, 04 Oct 2018 08:21:22 -0500, CRNG wrote:
>
>> Try taking the sponge, rinsing/squeezing it in plain water a couple of
>> times. Then place the soaked sponge on a disk and place in microwave.
>> Heat until the soaked sponge starts to boil off water. Remove
>> plate/sponge and let cool.

>
> The microwave seems like a good idea, if it doesn't destroy the sponge.
>


You have to be judicious as to what you put in the microwave:

https://www.delawareonline.com/story...ve/1535027002/
  #7 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair,alt.food.barbecue,rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 8
Default How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 4 Oct 2018 12:44:52 -0000 (UTC), Arlen
Holder > wrote:

>
>How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?


I don't. I have a contract with the NIH and Cedars-Sinai research
hosppital to raise bacteria cultures typical of the mid-Atlantic region.

They use these to design anti-biotics against sponge-born diseases.

Every 3 months I package my used sponges in ziploc bags with imitation
ice and ship them to one or the other location, alternating, and they
have already shipped me a new set of color coded sponges.

They only pay my shipping expenses and the free sponges. I do this as
my contribution to society.
  #8 (permalink)   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair,alt.food.barbecue,rec.food.preserving
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?

On Fri, 05 Oct 2018 22:09:33 -0400, Joy Beeson wrote:

> I simply bear in mind that a sponge is filthy no matter what.


While that's true, it's a punt to say that because you can't keep a sponge
wet for more than a short while before the bacterial count doubles,
doubles, doubles, and doubles.

As you're aware, if you double a penny for a month, you end up with over
five million dollars.

Bacteria are no different.

Hence the goal is to
a. Not throw out the sponge every day
b. But also keep the bacteria in check
c. Without brutalizing the sponge to pieces
Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Bacteria on kitchen towels graham General Cooking 19 13-06-2018 06:05 PM
(2010-09-26) NS-RFC: Kitchen sponges ChattyCathy General Cooking 54 30-09-2010 06:39 PM
Sponges OldGreyBob Sourdough 1 29-10-2006 12:48 AM
Mildew in potscrubbers and sponges Remsleep Cooking Equipment 4 07-09-2006 10:35 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:35 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 FoodBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Food and drink"