Boil your Cloth

I have just been reading about an outbreak of Novovirus in Heston Blumenthal's restaurant "Dinner" (again?). At some point in their life almost everyone will suffer from some form of food poisoning either by their own fair hand or by someone else.

The most common way "germs" are spread in a kitchen is by your cloth. I have been in so many pristine kitchens where it almost appears as if you could eat your food off the floor. No doggy footprints ever cross their threshold, no cats trip lightly across their counter tops seeking the milk jug. But; look in their sink area or better still lift up and smell the cloth or sponge they use to wash up with or clean down the work surfaces.  You can be almost certain it will be rank.

I always boil my cloth (with a small amount of washing powder) or at very least wash it and leave it soaking overnight in a weak bleach solution. I am obsessive about this. It is by far the cleanest thing in my house and it needs to be. I am very relaxed about everything else. But cloths and wooden chopping boards are rigourously cleaned every day or after every use.

The upside of this is that the Le Creuset pans I use to boil the cloth get lovely and clean as it is also a great way to remove stains.

So boil your cloth and allow it to dry out overnight.