What are we talking here, Drosophilidae or Tephritidae?
I have no idea what the microwaving is supposed to do… maybe help with mixing the ingredients without getting the soap all foamy?
(Also, “microwave for 30 seconds” - at which setting (or rather, power to volume ratio)? Should the mixture get slightly warm-ish, or close to boiling?)
The family recipe for this includes a dash of something fruity like juice and a dash of high-proof alcohol like vodka.
Anyway, the fruit (and vegetables) you put into your kitchen already come with plenty of eggs and/or larvae, at no extra cost. Wiping them down (or dipping them into) diluted vinegar is supposed to do something about that. I bought a 5L canister of cheap vinegar the other day to test this, but haven’t had the time yet.
I’ve never found fruit flies in my whiskey, but I have found fruit flies to be a weirdly reliable indicator of whether a beer is genuinely Belgian (as opposed to “Belgian-style” from somewhere else). Still, I leave cider vinegar traps for the flies and save the beer for myself.
I also use them, also without microwaving, and they are by far the most effective fruit fly trap I have ever seen. I do find that you have to be very careful how much dish soap you add – too much and it will repel the fruit flies, too little and it won’t break the surface tension. Maybe the microwave breaks down the soap somehow, making it more tolerant to over-soaping?
Teh interwebs could probably tell me in less time than it took to write this reply, but I’m not going to bother since I don’t need to know and don’t have a microwave anyway…
Rotten banana’s especially attractive aroma?
Rotten banana’s especially hedonistic lifestyle?
Rotten banana’s especially lurid tales of its misspent youth?
Rotten banana’s especially strong hatred of being just looked at?
(Hint - the plural of banana is bananas.)
Irrelevant - it is merely the introduction of some microwaves into the mixture that matters. The fruit flies can detect a microwave-infected substance from far away and come looking to see what the fuss is all about.
Lord, but those people really are the dregs, aren’t they?
OH man, I had a fruit fly infestation. I did try the apple cider trick, and it worked like gang busters. Still had a ton of them.
Finally went digging through a pile of stuff only to finally find the source - a walmart bag with Christmas candy from my mom, with a pomegranate. I made her get me one when I was in HS when I found out it was the “fruit of the dead” in Greek mythology, and she usually gets me one at Christmas.
Threw the whole bag out, and the problem cleared up.
They like the Belgian yeast. They create a distinctive chemical composition (not just the ethanol) that they can’t seem to get enough of. Don’t ask me what it is though.
