How does one clean out a garbage disposal unit?

Its kind of stinky and I imagine it could use a good scrubbing but... does one need to dismantle the whole thing or is there some type of trick to it?

you can throw some baking soda in there with ice cubes. the ice actually scrubs the blades as it is getting crushed up and the baking soda is a cleanser and deodorizer.

All of the answers are great and work prety well. I opt for the easier way and buy a product called Plink sold in the dishwasher soap section/cleaning section at the store. All you do is turn the water on, dump it in and turn it on. Its pretty inexpensive and works really well.

I have no idea how well this works, but this is what I've done:

Every now and then, put some ice in there and fire it up. This should act as an abrasive to clean some of the gunk without sticking hands in there.

I also put bleach and/or baking soda and/or vinegar in there from time to time. But be careful about mixing the acids and the bases if you do that. Done separately it should do the trick for you anyway.

I actually do a combination of what the others said. I slice lemon, grapefruit and oranges, that are almost bad, into wedges and freeze them. When the disposal starts to smell or about once a week, I fill the drain hole with the frozen fruit and 1/2 cup baking soda then turn it on and run the cold water as well. I don't turn it off until about 30 seconds after I stop hearing the fruit. It cleans, sharpens and deodorizes.

walmart sells this stuff in a plastic bottle that contains lemon smelling sand type cleaning agent. i cant remember what its called but it works great.

Run some orange peel through it. Or some baking soda. No need to dismantle...=0)