Fruit Fly Trap Wanted: Inquire Within

I have a fruit fly problem.  It's a big one.  Yesterday I took the last batch of nectarines out of the fridge to ripen and the bastards came out of no where.  For anyone reading who may feel the need to explain their origins- please don't.  I find them disgusting and appalling and cringe at the site of one, or 10 which seems most often the case.  And no, my house is not filthy.  It may not be showhome perfect (which I have already told you I have accepted may NEVER be happen), but it is not dirty either.  I have come to the conclusion that the fruit fly invasion of 2012 is thanks to the prolific amounts of fruit consumed in my home on a weekly basis.  It wasn't until one of my best friends (also a big fruit consumer) shared that she is having the same problem that it hit me.  It's not filth, it's fruit.

In the past week, we consumed approxiamtely: 6 pounds of strawberries, 3 pounds of kiwi, 4 pounds of nectarines, 3 pounds of plums, 4 oranges, and a cantaloupe.  I sometimes think back to days, before kids, when I bought the sorts of fruit mentioned above.  They went untouched for days and often times rotted before I remembered they were there.  Not so anymore.  Once the girls were eating solid foods, fruit became a staple for them.  As picky as they both were (and one still is) fruit was something they never turned down.  But that didn't do much to increase my own fruit intake or that of the husband.  We plodded on with heavily breaded meals, vegetables cooked in sticks of butter, and plates full of pastas- albeit with a homemade sauce.

Then the doctor struck.  No gluten, no dairy, no spinach, and butter is ok- if you aren't trying like mad to lose weight (which I was and still am, sortive).  What did that leave me?  Fruits and vegetables.  Every possible combination of fruit has been used.  I chop up a bowl for breakfast everyday and recently started doing the same for the husband.  The girls graze freely from the glass containers that store nature's candy (plastic storage is pretty much banned in our house too) and eat a bowl in their lunches everyday at school.

The only remedy I have found for the fruitfly issue, short of ditching our massive consumption on a weekly basis (which isn't really an option) is the recipe below.  It smells a little, but that is why the bastards love it.  Soon, I think we are going to start composting.  I know there has to be a way to get it done indoors, I just haven't done the research quite yet.  Until then, I keep a supply of apple cider vinegar on hand.  You never know when you might need it for a recipe or employ it as to trap for fiendish fruit flies.

Fruit Fly Trap

 

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

8-10 pumps dish soap

 

Pour the apple cider vinegar into a disposable cup (what else are they good for?) along with the dish soap.  Turn the water up high to create high pressure and add to the disposable cup.  There should be a nice 'froth' looking very similar to beer.  Sit the cup near the location the fruitflies seem to favor most.  If all goes well, they will zoom over to investigate and get trapped in the bubbles, leaving them to sink to the bottom.