Having a brother that travels to Japan certainly has its perks. The kids get Pokemon cards, and I get Bottle Cleaning Sponge Beans. Now what on earth are they? I might hear a few of my loyal readers whisper? Well if you haven’t encountered the handy kitchen edamame bean before, allow me to show you.
Basically it’s a bottle cleaning device, (that I love to bits.) Cleaning bottles with a narrow neck can be a bit tricky, especially when I’m brewing things like kombucha. I don’t strain it before bottling, so the floaty bits can get stuck on the side, making it tricky to clean.
Enter the cleaning beans. Pop one in, add some hot water and shake it like Taylor Swift.(There are two ceramic pea sized balls within the spongey casing which act as a slight abrasion. Also a hole on one end if you need to add some string to retrieve it for a longer necked bottle.)
And that’s it, you’re done! Floaty caked on kombucha bits all gone and bloody brilliant they are!
Now if you don’t have a kind younger brother getting these things for you from Japan, I would recommend looking them up and finding a local company that stocks them.
cityhippyfarmgirl 
Very cool…who would have ever thought?
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These sound great – Brydie – will have to see if they are available over here.
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I wonder if Daiso would have something similar? I’m going to check next time I’m at one of the stores. What a great idea 🙂
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AWESOME! Calling my mates in Jap-land now. Need in my life. 🙂 Fab idea, thanks for sharing lovely!
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Very clever. Love all things Japanese. Haha I think I probably say that about everything. Love this, love that. I’m just a lover of all good things:)
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And I think that’s a wonderful quality to have Zena 🙂
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Handy! The Japanese certainly have come up with a lot of innovative inventions. And yes, cleaning narrow-necked bottles can be tricky xx
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Wow. I would never have thought of such a thing. I sort of still doubt…I want to see one in action!
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Nah don’t doubt Sara. I’m not going to put it on here if it wasn’t most excellent.
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Very nice and useful. Is it for steel bottle too?
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Yep!
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Well goodness me. I have a bottle brush I scrub with and sometimes I resort to a steradent table, the almond milk bottle and my sourdough container need such a scrub. I think I will get me some beans!
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I use a wide mouthed jar for my booch and brew up 4 litres at a time but this would be excellent for kefir as that builds up a milky layer that is like glue in no time flat. Excellent Japanese share Ms Cityhippyfarmgirl 🙂
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Fermentation can be sticky business can’t it.
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