Beet Stalks In the Disposal

Bad Idea

Here's what happens when you put beet stalks in the garbage disposal: The blades of the disposal, which are actually grinders rather than cutters, strip the vegetable layers binding the fibers of the stalks. The grinders turn the vegetable matter to a swampy mush and relentlessly fold and refold the fibers and stuff the indigestible mess into the small holes that drain the grinding surface of the disposal, plugging it.

If you leave the disposal going and the water running, the sink will begin to fill. But before the water reaches a depth of, say, two inches, the disposal will fling water, vegetable matter and fiber back out of the sink drain and, sometimes, achieve something like lift off. A revenge, of sorts, for victims of food chain tyranny.

The process of clearing the disposal, which comes next, is interesting, but an account of that process would distract us from the value of the experience, what the experience teaches us: Don't put beet stalks in the disposal.


Next Week: What happens when you allow the gas bar-b-q to fill with too much propane before pushing the igniter button.