In our kitchen, cloths and tea towels are indispensable. We usually use at least a couple of them every day, and although they are all quite durable, we have to clean and disinfect them very carefully. The material of kitchen cloths can be cotton, synthetic fiber or microfiber. The use of each of the materials will depend on the task at hand in our kitchen.
After washing them, sometimes they continue to give off a strange or bad smell. This means that they are not 100% disinfected and the remaining bacteria and microbes cause that bad smell.
Tea towels: full of bacteria, molds and fungi. How to get rid of them without putting them in the washing machine!
Kitchen cloths tend to accumulate germs, bacteria and microbes that multiply with moisture and cause mold growth if we don’t dry and air them properly. For example, there are more E. coli bacteria in the sink, dish cloths and dish sponge than there are in the toilet.
Oils, grease and millions of bacteria accumulate in tea towels when we use them. If they are not washed often (using the right method), the oils become rancid and the bacteria start to proliferate, developing a bad smell. Thus, we end up bringing all these microorganisms to the table. To get rid of all the bacterial agents and get kitchen cloths that dry and clean in the best possible way, we need to wash them daily. We leave you below the products that disinfect the best!
Vinegar
Vinegar is one of the products that effectively kills bacteria, and also, because it is not a chemical, it does not affect the fibers of rags and kitchen cloths.
- Boil some water in a pot.
- Pour in an entire bottle of vinegar.
- Soak the rags and let them soak for 2 to 3 hours.
- Rinse with room-temperature water, wring out well and leave to air dry.
Boiling water
Another natural option is to use boiling water. When we wash tea towels in this way, we ensure that all dirt and, most importantly, grease is removed.
- Bring water to a boil in a large pot.
- Once it reaches boiling point, we pour it into a high temperature resistant basin.
- To ensure 100% cleanliness, we can add a little detergent and soak the cloths.
- We let it sit for about 2 hours.
- After that time has elapsed, rinse with room temperature water, wring out well and leave to air dry.
In the dishwasher
We normally use the washing machine to wash tea towels and kitchen cloths, but did you know that they can also be washed in the dishwasher? Here they reach very high temperatures that kill bacteria. In this case, the only thing we have to take into account for optimal cleaning is how to place them inside the dishwasher.
- We need to position them so that they do not clog or become entangled with the spirals and blades that distribute the water.
- Next, we start a short program in case we only wash the kitchen rags.
- When the program is over, we take them out, wring them out as much as possible and let them air dry.
Kitchen cloths, it is important to disinfect them to eliminate bacteria 100%!
There is a difference between washing and disinfecting. By simply washing, we can get rid of dirt and some microbes, germs and bacteria, but not 100%. This is because all these harmful agents are not on the surface, but are embedded between the fibers of cloths and kitchen mops. If we want to disinfect each of our kitchen cloths well, we need to use much stronger solutions, such as high temperatures. In this way, we can eliminate all harmful agents such as bacteria, microbes and germs.
