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London’s fatberg on show: ‘We thought of pickling it’

theguardian.com

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Re: London’s fatberg on show: ‘We thought of pickling it’

#41

Post by philjohn »

omginternets wrote: post #37
gadders wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite often you can wait for it to solidify before disposing of it.

I have a tiny kitchen with only room for a few pots and pans, which is pretty much the norm in London. That's not a terribly viable solution, I'm afraid. This isn't quite as bad as saying "don't poop in the toilet; wait for it to dry out before putting it in the trash", but it's in the same neighborhood.

You pour it back into the container it came in when it's cool, and then you throw it out, or take it to your local household recycling centre where they can dispose of it for you.

Re: London’s fatberg on show: ‘We thought of pickling it’

#42

Post by michaelt »

folknor wrote: post #10
mseebach wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really though? I've lived three places in London and made sourdoughs with tap water in all with no trouble. If it can't kill nacent yeast cultures, I wouldn't expect it to have many chances against sewer bacteria.

TLDR: It's not as simple as "apply bleach - things die." Yeast and bacteria are not the same thing. Practically, bleach doesn't kill yeast - if you try to kill fungus in your shower or on a wall with bleach, what that does is make it white. Which to us is a strong indication that it's dead, but it probably isn't. To clean fungus from your shower, for example, you need to mix vinegar and fresh bleach with cold water (…

  you need to mix vinegar and fresh bleach
  with cold water (of which the fumes can
  actually kill you as well)
All the results I can find on Google for "bleach vinegar" say "Do not do this, chlorine gas is poison" - where can I learn more about how to do it properly, and why it works?

Re: London’s fatberg on show: ‘We thought of pickling it’

#43

Post by jandrese »

gadders wrote: post #36
omginternets wrote: post #34

>A third of Londoners admitted they didn't know you weren't supposed to flush fat down the sink. So what am I supposed to do with it? Put it in the trash? That's not acceptable for the same reason that putting anything liquid in the rubbish bin isn't acceptable. :/

Quite often you can wait for it to solidify before disposing of it.

The fats I cook with don't solidify at room temperature though.

Re: London’s fatberg on show: ‘We thought of pickling it’

#45

Post by MertsA »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #3
rtb wrote: post #2

Does anyone know why the fat doesn't get broken down by bacteria; why doesn't it just rot away?

I understand that there are two things: first, it's not just fat – it's fat plus nappies plus wipes plus sanitary goods. Second, the combination of the fat with metallic salts in the water causes saponification, so you end up with some kind of calcium-magnesium soap mixed in with it.

"Ninety three per cent of its complex structure was said to consist of the element “wet wipe”."

It's made of something meant to be stored for very long periods in water without losing cohesion.

Re: London’s fatberg on show: ‘We thought of pickling it’

#46

Post by MertsA »

merpnderp wrote: post #40
gambiting wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fat is such a fantastic store of energy I am really surprised nothing evolved to eat it in this form.

Given the recent Lancet study on the healthfulness of high fat diets, maybe these could be recycled for food.

The Chinese have quite the problem with exactly that. Eating something pulled out of a sewer tends to have health effects and gutter oil is sometimes made from grease from a sewer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutter_oil

Re: London’s fatberg on show: ‘We thought of pickling it’

#47

Post by cobbzilla »

I wish they could somehow preserve it more perfectly. Could they encase the thing in a cube of acrylic? Maybe the heat of the liquid acrylic would damage it?

The fatberg should be preserved as a monument to the staggeringly wasteful nature of our current culture. Then keep it on exhibit even after we reach a sustainable future, to remind people what things were like before we started acting more responsibly towards our planet.

Re: London’s fatberg on show: ‘We thought of pickling it’

#48

Post by SAI_Peregrinus »

omginternets wrote: post #37
gadders wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite often you can wait for it to solidify before disposing of it.

I have a tiny kitchen with only room for a few pots and pans, which is pretty much the norm in London. That's not a terribly viable solution, I'm afraid. This isn't quite as bad as saying "don't poop in the toilet; wait for it to dry out before putting it in the trash", but it's in the same neighborhood.

I pour it into mason jars. If it's a fat type that can be rendered into lard I do that, but for oils and other unsaturated fats they just get stored until the jar is full and then tossed in the trash.

Re: London’s fatberg on show: ‘We thought of pickling it’

#49

Post by phjesusthatguy3 »

philjohn wrote: post #41
omginternets wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a tiny kitchen with only room for a few pots and pans, which is pretty much the norm in London. That's not a terribly viable solution, I'm afraid. This isn't quite as bad as saying "don't poop in the toilet; wait for it to dry out before putting it in the trash", but it's in the same neighborhood.

You pour it back into the container it came in when it's cool, and then you throw it out, or take it to your local household recycling centre where they can dispose of it for you.

Or keep a food tin around after emptying so you can pour the waste fat into it. Or seal it in something reusable and use it as the fat for your next fryjob.

Re: London’s fatberg on show: ‘We thought of pickling it’

#50

Post by KozmoNau7 »

MertsA wrote: post #46
merpnderp wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the recent Lancet study on the healthfulness of high fat diets, maybe these could be recycled for food.

The Chinese have quite the problem with exactly that. Eating something pulled out of a sewer tends to have health effects and gutter oil is sometimes made from grease from a sewer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutter_oil

The depths of human depravity know no bounds.
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