Like many editors right here at Bon Appétit, I like an apron. As a result of regardless of how gently I stir the tomato sauce or how rigorously I pour the brownie batter, I find yourself coated in splatters. (Don’t ask me how! I have no idea!) And so I like an apron for its selflessness, defending my sweaters from stains in any respect prices.
What I don’t love is washing it. Laundry could also be tiring, however apron laundry is frustrating. Sure, the splatters. However even worse, the strings! The pesky strings that knot into oblivion within the washer and dryer, needing to be unraveled, unraveled, and unraveled some extra.
Some folks say that tying the strings right into a bow beforehand helps. But the strings nonetheless emerge from the dryer in a cussed twist. Different folks say purchase a Japanese-style cross-back apron as a substitute. Its broad straps are sewn in, which makes them untangleable. This isn’t fixing the issue, although—it’s avoiding it.
So I did what I ought to have carried out ages in the past: I requested my coworkers if that they had any recommendation about apron laundering. And naturally they did. Affiliate director of social media Urmila Ramakrishnan and senior cooking editor Kelsey Youngman shared the identical nugget of knowledge:
After you spot-treat all of the stains, tie the strings right into a bow, then zip the apron right into a massive mesh garment bag (the identical type you would possibly have already got for delicates like lingerie).
Simply because it protects lacy bras from the tumble of a washer, a mesh garment bag swaddles an apron and retains its strings contained. Ever humble, Kelsey dubbed this technique “imperfect however a lot improved.” I’ll leap to the opposite finish of the spectrum and name it downright genius.
What as soon as emerged as a hopeless tangle now exits the dryer as—get this—an apron. Stains gone, straps tidy, no unsnarling wanted. All I’ve to do is dangle it up till the subsequent batch of tomato sauce.
