Kitchen Excitement or How I Learned to Stop Worrying...

Mold is an interesting organism. For instance, did you know that even in a haphazardly-sealed plastic container, more than one type of mold can grow at the same time? “Wait!”you are thinking, “don’t the molds compete with each other, eliminating their competitors until one is crowned ‘Top Mold’?” No, it seems mold societies are more utopian and into sharing and all that. I have found several containers in the fridge which play host to not one, not two, not three, not even four, but five disgusting species of mold – each! And I don’t mean subspecies, either. I mean full-blown cannot-inter-mate species with different colors, sizes and textures, though they may taste the same for all I know.

Recently though, I had a really exciting discovery that turned everything I know about mold on its head, that is to say, it added to my knowledge significantly.
I decided to make hot chocolate, which I haven’t done in a while, so I got my plastic travel mug from the table and carried it over to the stove, then back to the table to mix it up. Then I picked it up and noticed that the bottom was covered in... honey?

My first thought, what with all the plastics scare lately, was oh no, did my cup melt by the stove? Am I poisoned? But no, it seemed fine in that regard and Poison Control assured me I was okay.

Second thought, did I spill honey somewhere? I do cook with honey every now and then, and my roommate uses maple syrup on his pancakes. I taste some of the dripping mixture. It’s like honey, but less sweet and not a very good flavor.

I look over to where the cup was originally sitting (for a few weeks) and see a big mess of this stuff. I move aside a bag a fruit to get a better look and see that it’s coming from the fruit. Specifically, the pear. More specifically, the rotting pear that has gone moldy, condensed into a thick syrup, eaten through the plastic bag, and spread all over the kitchen table. I alert my roommate (it’s his fruit).
“Oh,” he says, “I didn’t realize that pear was still here.”

Discussion Questions
1. “That” pear?
2. Where else would it be?
3. Who is going to clean this up?

He cleaned it up, but when I went to check this morning, I found out that rotting pear syrup will stain a plastic table. Remember, it ate through the plastic!!