Average Jane vs. Lemony Freshness

My question for the day: why have single-use dishwasher detergent portions suddenly evolved so rapidly?

I was a big fan of Electrasol tablets when they came out. They were little bricks of dry dishwasher powder that dropped into the water at the proper time, dissolved nicely and did a good job of cleaning the dishes. Then the company added a little marble sticking out of the center that was supposedly Jet-Dry, an additional cleaner that fights water spots. That was fine, too. Earlier this year I bought a big box of them from the clearance basket at the grocery store, not realizing it was the last box of them I would ever see at my store.

Now Electrasol comes in the form of little bladders of scented goo. The scent choices are green apple, orange blossom and lemon. Like most Americans, I’m already conditioned to think of lemon as an acceptable cleaning product odor, so I chose that. To me, orange blossom is a perfume scent and green apple is a bubblegum flavor. I don’t care to have my dishes smelling like either one.

As it turns out, I don’t want my dishes to smell like lemon either. The lemon scent is actually rather nice as it wafts out of the dishwasher while the machine is running. Unfortunately, the smell clings to the insides of glasses and particularly to softer plastic items.

A visit to the company’s website reveals that they still make the tablets. That may be my next Obscure Household Product Quest, following on the heels of my last trek across the Internet to find Chore Boy (formerly Chore Girl and referred to by my aunt as Chore Person) Golden Fleece scouring cloths.

Someday, archaeologists will find my secret hoard of Golden Fleece and Electrasol tablets and be very, very puzzled.