This week a report went around the net that it was now scientifically proven, the best way to sanitize your kitchen sponge is to microwave it. This isn't exactly a new idea, I first heard about it a good couple years ago. But I suppose now it has scientific validity. Now it's a simple fact – microwave your sponge for 2 minutes every now and then to kill the germs. Good idea.
I wanted to try this, but…should the sponge be wet, or dry? I remember trying it a few years ago with a wet sponge and I could swear the thing was melting, so I gave up. I did not try it this time because I was missing that key piece of data.
Apparently I wasn't the only one. Local news organizations around University of Florida (who released the report) have been deluged with email from people who microwaved a dry sponge, causing it to catch fire and melt in the microwave. "You can't use the sponge again anyway," wrote one, "And your house smells like burning rubber."
So the university released the following advisory:
"To guard against the risk of fire, people who wish to sterilize their sponges at home must ensure the sponge is completely wet. Two minutes of microwaving is sufficient for most sterilization. Sponges should also have no metallic content. Last, people should be careful when removing the sponge from the microwave as it will be hot."
I really wish they'd left off the "will be hot" part, just to see if the news organizations got email saying "Dang, they didn't tell me it would be hot!"