A Hotel Microwave

Q. I am on vacation and would like to use the microwave in my hotel room. One must assume that the microwave had previously been used with non-kosher food. How should this microwave be kashered?

A. The microwave oven should be cleaned well and left idle for 24 hours. Therefore, if one is staying in the hotel for only one night, it cannot be kashered. After 24 hours, a full cup of water should be heated in the microwave for ten minutes allowing the water to overflow and the microwave to fill with steam. Steam condensate should be apparent on all the surfaces, otherwise the kashering is not effective. The cup should then be moved to another location in the microwave and again the water should be boiled for ten minutes.

The above kashering is sufficient to kasher the walls and ceiling of the microwave, but it is insufficient to kasher the glass turntable, which is assumed to have had direct contact with non-kosher food. Instead, the glass plate should be wrapped in two layers of plastic wrap.

Alternatively, so long as the microwave is clean, one may use it right away, so long as the food is properly sealed so that the steam does not leak out. It is proper to double wrap the food, for instance with both plastic wrap and a paper bag. This way, in case the inner plastic layer bursts, the food is still protected by the outer paper seal.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.