How do you keep your kitchen sponges free of bacteria?

[Arlen Holder]

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?

[Bill Gill]

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

[trader_4]

Mostly, I think it's a lost cause and it doesn't matter, as long as you rinse whatever you're washing well. But if I want to sanitize a sponge I put it damp, into the microwave on high for 1 minute. Freezer seems nuts to me, I've never heard of using freezing to sanitize anything. In fact, it's used to preserve many living organisms indefinitely.

[CRNG]

On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 12:44:52 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote in

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.

[angelicapaganelli]

Similar to my M.O. I wash everything in the dishwasher except sharp knives. They are handwashed in the hottest water my hands can tolerate with a soapy paper towel. Then I use the paper towel to wipe out the sink and discard it.

Cindy Hamilton

[hubops]

Yep - cotton dish cloth - sponges and micro-fibre cloth tend to just move water & crumbs around - rather than soak them up. .. it's not like a few dish cloths per week is a big deal on the laundry load. John T.

[Frank]

That is what I do. Just did one to help clean a pan in the sink since I needed the hot water retained in the sponge.

Bleach will also do it but do not put it directly on the sponge and use a dilute solution and let it soak.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I do the same but if I think of it, I toss it in the DW.

[Dean Hoffman]

WebMD recommends the microwave.

[Arlen Holder]

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?

[Arlen Holder]

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

[Arlen Holder]

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

[trader_4]

It doesn't if it has a decent amount of water and you put it in on high for one minute. It will be so hot you need to let it cool before touching it. If you put it in with marginal moisture and leave it on for 10 minutes, well, you may have a fire.

[Meanie]

This.

[Frank]

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

[micky]

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.

[micky]

Why don't you waash sharp knives in the dishwasher?

[trader_4]

Any high quality, real kitchen knife that I've seen, they advise not putting it in the dishwasher. I would think the reason is the dishwasher is somewhat abrasive, so the handles will be affected and it will dull them faster than if they are hand washed.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Caustic chemicals and they can bounce around banging the edge.

[gfretwell]

My good knives stay in the block unless they are being used and get immediately cleaned and put back. The cheap ones can get banged around.