A new perspective on not rinsing dishes

I've gone nearly 3 years of knowing my in-laws *without* mention of how much I hate leaving dish soap on dishes and wiping it off rather than rinsing it. It got brought up the other day though, and my mother-in-law shed some potential light on the subject (though she does make stuff up!)... she said keeping the soap on the dishes helps your digestive system out... basically saying the soap kept your system clean! But then in the same breath she said it was bad to *drink* the soap bubbles.... I had always thought the non-rinsing thing was because of the sinks or the space... but according to her it's actually healthier!  
Count me as someone who disagrees...

Ohhh Marlespo, many a discussion has been had over this in our house hehe  

My hubby always tells me off for rinsing dishes and never never rinses them himself- he said that the soap is made to stay on the dishes after you've washed them to do a sort of double clean up. I've always disagreed with him that they mean to leave the soap on the sponge and not the dishes but I saw his Mum doing the same thing recently and I asked her. She showed me where it is written on certain bottles of washing up liquid that it's "extra hygenic" and it shouldn't be washed off.

All I have to say is that this goes against ALL of my cleaning sensibilites but there ya go LOL I say we just rinse while they all are not looking  



Jen  

I always rather thought that the reason they didn't rinse the dishes was a throw back to war-time rationing; kinda like conserving water.

Either way, count me as one that does rinse and has converted her hubby to do the same.

I have to wonder if the food tastes any different to those that used to leave the soap on and now rinse.  Any idea?

I don't know Kiz. :-/ But have you ever accidentally tasted dish soap? YUCK. I drank coke once out of a glass that wasn't rinsed well and it was horrible.

And I'm with you Marlespo...I don't see how it could possibly be good for you.

I can say that consuming dish soap will certainly keep your system clean...although the amount of time it will force you to spend in the bathroom really isn't worth it.

I must say I love that subtle taste of Fairy liquid in my tea!  

One Question: for those of you who leave the soap on the dishes, does it make you sick? :-/

One Question: for those of you who leave the soap on the dishes, does it make you sick?  answer: Nope

I still rinse the dishes and my fiance did for a while but now it seems to much a bother to him to do it. Just doing it to please me I am sure.    Now he says if I want them rinsed I can wash them.    I said okay I will.   If he wants me to dry those dishes he better rinse.   Howard what is your take on the rinsing thing.  Would like to know if there really is a reason why the brits don't rinse there dishes.

Good grief, I am British and I was taught by my parents to rinse the dishes. My dad was horrified once when my aunt didn't do this.
Luckily Stu and I managed to find a flat that came equipped with a dishwasher so IT rinses them!  

Howard what is your take on the rinsing thing

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Gosh, Kitty, this has proved a difficult one to answer!

I've taken a quick poll of the members of my office (we have an enlightened management here who allow us to do things like this at work!)  When hand-washing dishes 50% rinse, 50% don't^*.  But I suspect that the non-rinsing Brit population is a larger proportion than that.

Why they don't rinse I can only surmise.  Although according to one source I read, a kitchen sink uses 5 (Brit) gallons while a running tap uses 20 every minute, I am not certain if it is anything to do with wartime economies.

As far as I can remember washing-up liquids/dish soaps started being used extensively in this country not until the late fifties.  The famous Fairy Liquid (Proctor and Gamble, US parent company) advert with Nanette Newman "Hands that do dishes ..."^** dates to 1961.  Now I have a recollection, unless this is a false memory, that we all here thought that the miracle liquids exonerated us from rinsing.  I can't prove that the instructions on the bottles actually said that, and it may be that the lovely Nanette appeared to us not to be rinsing - or at least not in the duration of the advert - and this was giving us the subliminal clue that we didn't need to.  (As a matter of fact I am not totally sure I am right as to the fact that the advert *didn't* show her rinsing, nor even if it was Nanette "Stepford Wives" Newman who was in the earliest advert.)

One thing that seems certain is that modern Brit opinion is very much in favour of rinsing if you're hand-washing dishes, see

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A337006

(- but even there there are some post-article discussions as to whether it *really* is worth rinsing)

So I have to remain a bit vague as to why it is thus.  Perhaps it's one of those weird "Brit things", like driving on the left (though one-third of the world does it our way), or using both hands for knife and fork (though all nationalities who actually use knives and forks apart from Americans do the same as us [not sure about Canadians!]), or fruitcake, or strong properly-made tea, or disgustingly weak milky coffee!!!!!!!

But I'll try to do more research into this.

Howard.

^*There are actually only two of us in our company, so we are the "management" - and I won't tell you which side I was on, except to say that having read the BBC h2g2 article, I'm definitely rinsing from now on if forced to hand-wash the dishes!

**'Now Hans who does dishes can be soft as Gervais, with wild green hairy
lip squid.'!!!!

I got the impression that non-rinsers were saving water...but that the rule was to then dry directly following washing. Not to let the dishes air dry. Hence, the soap didn't actually stay on the dishes, it went to the towel, which got washed after each use.

SAF, loved your comment!

I can say that consuming dish soap will certainly keep your system clean...although the amount of time it will force you to spend in the bathroom really isn't worth it.

Count me in as a rinser. I don't buy the cleaning-the-body-out theory...I'm more a believer in the basic principles of chemistry: "The solution to pollution is dilution."

Ewwww, yuk...I am having a tough time trying to sway Tom into rinsing off what he washes...he is a non rinser...  he does not have a good reason for it...just says that they do not need to be rinsed...  I end up going back over what he has washed and rinsed everything off...  Too many times I have had a cup of tea that tasted like soap... it does not leave a good taste in the mouth...  and nothing worse than taking a big gulp of tea and having a bubble come out of your mouth...LOL!

I am a rinser...and shall always be a rinser

I am a rinser...and shall always be a rinser

Amen sister! Me too!