Burn & Stain Removal on Pots

Grease Stains

• Grease stains are some of the hardest to remove with soap and water. Add baking soda to your dish soap to cut through tough grease stains on most pots. If you are using an iron pot, you can sprinkle the pan with salt to absorb some of the grease before you wash it. If you are washing a stainless steel pot, try boiling vinegar mixed with water for five minutes to loosen grease stains and allow them to come off with minimal scrubbing.

Sticky Food Stains

• If you have sticky food stains on your cast iron pot, try pouring club soda in the pot while it is still warm. This will loosen any stuck-on food remnants. You can also make your own scrub pad by using an old, but clean pair of pantyhose. Crumple them up, add dish soap and water and you have an instant scrub pad that will remove stuck-on food.

Burnt-on Food

• Instead of scrubbing burnt-on food, you can fill your pot with water, add a teaspoon of liquid fabric softener and let it soak for about an hour before washing with soap and water. Another option is to put the entire pot in the freezer for a few hours. The frozen food remnants can be scrapped off more easily. Also, burned milk can be removed by sprinkling the pot with salt and letting it sit for about ten minutes before scrubbing with soap and water.

Other Stains

• Aluminum cookware can develop dark spots from acidic foods. Remove them by boiling a solution of one teaspoon vinegar to one cup water for a few minutes, then rinsing with cold water. You can also combat discolored aluminum by boiling a mixture of two tablespoons cream of tartar with one quart water in the pot. Enamel pots can be cleaned with warm water and a denture tablet, and don't forget that you can remove tarnish stains from copper pots by covering them with ketchup, waiting a few minutes then washing them.