I was cleaning out the refrigerator and found a Tupperware dish containing half cherries and half green mold. (Optimistically, half-full of cherries.)
Gary saw we dumping the glop down the garbage disposal.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU CAN’T DO THAT! IT POISONS THE SINK!”
I stopped. “What are you talking about?”
“YOU CAN’T PUT THAT IN THE SINK! YOU’LL MAKE THE SINK SICK!”
I stared blankly at him. Then I turned on the disposal and ran the water. Then I lifted my left eyebrow at him.
“THAT DOESN’T DO ANYTHING! WE HAVE MOLD MOLECULES IN OUR SINK NOW!”
Seriously. Does he have a point? Should I have put the green mold in the trash? Burned it? Put the Tupperware in an autoclave? What would a normal person do?
4 responses to “Sick Sink”
I would probably have tossed it in the trash because I would have been worried about what cherry pits might do to a garbage disposal, but you can dump a pot of boiling water down the sink and that should emphatically discourage any mold. (but mold is everywhere. There is already mold in your garbage disposal, pretty much guaranteed. I mean, yes, try to maintain things in such a condition that mold is less likely to thrive, but it’s only the molds-with-neurotoxins that you really want to sterilize away?)
KC – Not real cherries, actually, cherry pie filling. Perhaps a pot of boiling vinegar might be even more effective. I suppose we shouldn’t worry about mold, given that if I went down that pipe far enough i might hit worse than mold.
Ah, okay. Then yes, cherry pits would not be a concern and yes, garbage disposal is the right call!
Boiling vinegar would work, but phew, the gasp-inducing fumes. (I have made the mistake of breathing in the steam from boiling pickle brine. Not smart.)
I think the main thing with garbage disposals is to dump a lot all at once and run it so that your cleansing agent of choice hits as much of the interior as possible, rather than just dribbling down the sides and bottom? But if there aren’t any stenches or mold-induced allergy attacks, eh, it’s fine, and yes, it’s less toxic than what’s farther down that pipe. 🙂
KC – hm. We’ve been lucky with the pipes in this house. It’s all those pvc pipes, which are like playskool pipes. So easy to put together and take apart on your own.