We've all been there. You open the fridge and find a smell you don't recognize. Is it Sunday's leftover pad thai? Half an onion from last week? Something a roommate promised they'd clean up? You close the door, vow that you'll clean it this weekend, and open a browser tab looking for a quicker fix.
There's never a shortage of shortcuts. One particularly surprising suggestion comes from a food safety guide about cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen. According to a University of Illinois article , you can soak a cotton swab in vanilla and leave it inside your refrigerator or freezer with the door closed for 24 hours to help eliminate unwanted odors. It's easy and, compared to sniffing around the fridge while holding your breath, a downright pleasant task. But the guide goes into far more detail about what's really going on in the fridge that's causing the smell, so let's see what the experts say, and what your sweet-smelling fridge can't promise you.
