The Mystery Smell

And how to make magic with it

It begins with denial.

As you close the fridge in the early morning, replacing the cream, you notice a whiff.

Nah.

Probably just musty.

This happened a few weeks ago, and with each subsequent morning, a new and deepening complexity.

Cabbage?

Cheese?

Socks?

Last week I carefully tossed, repackaged, resealed, wiped, and added a fresh batch of baking soda. We don’t consume much that has a high fat content and could go rancid, but I poked through a package of cold cuts, opened the cheese and repackaged it into a sealing glass/silicone container, and scanned through the door which holds nothing that spoils: seventeen sorts of hot sauce, one ketchup, and a bevy of mustards (which start bad, in my opinion, but don’t go bad).

Falling short of an obvious culprit, I nominated the raw parmesan as tribute and went about life.

The smell lingered.