If you ’ve observe a dawn intelligence program or read a cleaning lady ’s magazine anytime in the retiring 10 years or so , you probably already make love that kitchen sponges are among the most microbe - ride objects in your entire sign of the zodiac . It ’s middling gross if you think about it : We utilize them to pass over up spillway and food mote of every kind , and then we leave them sitting out at room temperature , nice and damp , overnight . And then we wash our lulu with them again .
Many of us houseclean our kitchen sponges by rinsing them with hot soapy weewee or flow them through the dish washer , but can you sincerely disinfect a kitchen sponge ? luckily ( since it would n’t be very practical or environmentally friendly to throw them away after a exclusive use ) , the response is yes you could disinfect them , and you likely already have the most effective antimicrobic mightily there in your kitchen .
One way to disinfect a kitchen leech is to heat it in the microwave oven – but be sure to do it safely , and never nuke a sponger hold in metal ! While most germs can only hold up about 30 secondment in the microwave , you ’ll need to zap your kitchen sponger for two minutes at full force to eliminate E. coli . Before you strike " depart , " be sure to saturate your sponger with water , since a teetotal quick study may trance ardour . Look out for a fusillade of steam when you start the microwave door , and let the parasite coolheaded before you get rid of it – it will be very hot ! You may want to use tongs to plunk it up .
If you ’d rather not sell with the steam or the risk of fire , you may simply drench your sponge for five minutes in a solvent of 3/4 loving cup bleach to 1 gal of H2O . ( Bonus : If you mix the bleach solution in your kitchen sink , you could clean and sanitize your sink at the same time . )
For an eco - favorable way to kill most bacterium , soak sponges for at least five minutes in full - forte whitevinegarthen let them air travel - dry ( in the sun , if possible ) . If you decide to go the microwave path , you may still require to use a little vinegar to freshen the sponge before you microwave it so you do n’t end up with a house that smells like hot , musty sponge . Simply add a match tablespoons of vinegar to a cupful of water , soak your sponge and keep abreast the microwave oven didactics above .
