The Humble Fruit That Moonlights As A Natural Kitchen Deodorizer

Let's say you had a leak around your sink. Water dripped inside, and over several days or weeks it became stagnant, causing your kitchen to smell before you discovered the problem. Now your cabinet smells terrible. If you're looking for a cost-effective and natural way to handle this, an apple a day might just keep the stink away.

Using sliced apples, whether halves or quarters, has long been a trick in the world of auto detailing. That same method works wonders with kitchen smells. You shouldn't leave the apples for much longer than 48 hours, or you risk replacing one odor with the smell of rotten fruit. That's not really an improvement. The fruit appears to absorb odors as it decays. If you stick to the 48-hour limit, a fresh apple scent replaces the previous unpleasant odor. Swap the old apples with fresh slices every other day to maintain a strong apple scent.

We know a lot of natural compounds are good at cleaning and odor elimination already. Baking soda, vinegar, and lemon are kitchen cleaning staples. We even compiled an extensive list of common ingredients that can help your kitchen smell better. Apple slices in a simmer pot made the list. They're also good at eliminating garlic breath.

Overwhelming smells in the home can be eliminated by apples on their own, not just simmering in a pot. And they can tackle not just smoke in upholstery, but also unpleasant kitchen odors that make your home feel inhospitable. A few apple slices placed in bowls near the source of the odor are all it takes. A radio DJ from 99.9 KTDY said they had left chicken in the garbage over a weekend. When they returned, the house smelled rotten. When they asked for help on air, a listener suggested the apple trick after commercial cleaners failed. The result was the near total elimination of the smell in just a couple of days.

Trying to eliminate the smells in your whole kitchen takes more time than a cabinet or cupboard, of course. And more apples. Most evidence for this trick's efficacy is anecdotal. However, apples produce more than 250 volatile compounds, according to Postharvest Biology and Technology. We once wrote about an onion hack to help remove paint odors in your kitchen because onions also release odor-eliminating volatile compounds. Apples don't have the same research into their compounds' effects, but that doesn't mean they are ineffective. The next time you're staring down a nasty kitchen smell, try the apple trick for yourself and see how it does.