Saturday, 21 February 2015

Using Charcoal As A Deodorizer And For Decoration

I first learnt that Charcoal could be used as a deodorizer from my hubby many years ago. At that time, it was durian (green thorny fruit with a pungent smell) season and that particular year, durian were very cheap. I bought a lot of durians, I am a crazy durian fan and I will open up the thorny outer skin and put the inner flesh in plastic containers and store them in the freezer of the refrigerator. I would then take out a container, leave it in the lower shelf to defrost and I would take down another container from the freezer and defrost them again. So I get to enjoy durian every day.

My hubby also like durian but not as crazy as I am. Whenever I stored durian in the refrigerator, he will complain that it will smells of durian. He would always remind me to put a piece of two of Charcoal in the lower shelf of the refrigerator. He said that the Charcoal will absorb the smell of the durian inside the refrigerator. Just place the pieces of Charcoal in a container, leave it open and place in the refrigerator. It will also absorb any other odor from the refrigerator. Remove the Charcoal after about a week and I usually place it under the hot sun to dry it. Once thoroughly dried, I reuse it again.
We can also place some pieces of Charcoal under the car seats to absorb any moldy or musty odor in the car. I find this very effective and it is cheaper just using the normal Charcoal. Also charcoal can be placed in the toilet after we have eaten stinky beans.

Sometime last month or beginning of this month, my friends and I were in Taiping for a day trip. After our lunch at the Thai restaurant, we went over to the next door cake shop to buy some bread. Since I was not buying anything, I just walked and looked around the shop. I do not know the name of the shop but the charcoal decorations in the shop attracted my attention. The blocks of charcoal were used as decoration and also as deodorizer as well.
There were four blocks of charcoal in the shop, placed at four parts of the shop. No wonder the air in the shop smelled fresh. This is the first time I have seen blocks of charcoal being used as decoration and deodorizer in a shop. Usually we will place it somewhere not easily seen. From a dirty black charcoal, it has been transformed into beauties.
These are all plastic/artificial flowers.

These charcoals may be black, dirty and ugly but with a little effort and time, these charcoal became beautiful decorations.

For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkenss
and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(Colossian 1:11, New International Version-NIV)

12 comments:

  1. I have never seen such a thing! They really did a good job arranging. I had no idea about this use for charcoal! Here, people put open boxes of baking soda in the fridge to absorb odor. But you must change them monthly. I will have to try this!

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    1. Yes Ginny, do give it a try. After using, then later use it for BBQ, no wastage.

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  2. Nancy, your photos are lovely, and I think this is a wonderful idea. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  3. Wonderful idea, congratulations for your beautiful photos!
    A very interesting post!
    Cheers :)

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  4. Nice flower arrangement using charcoal!

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  5. Nancy, I remember my grandpa taught me about using charcoal as a deodorizer. It's wonderful that it can be made into such lovely and tasteful decorations.

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    Replies
    1. Phong Hong, it is something which I never would have thought of, until I saw these.

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