The Best How To Clean Tips

The Best How To Clean Tips

simple – practical – effective

how-to-clean-aluminum-cookware

How to Clean Aluminum Cookware

Cleaning cookware has to be one of the most important things you clean in your home. Cookware is essential for making food, so you really want to keep clean. With variations of cookware, there are different ways to clean it. How do you know if you are cleaning it properly? In this article, I will discuss specifically how to clean aluminum cookware.

How to Clean Aluminum Cookware

Materials & Tools

  • sponge
  • 1/4 cup cream of tartar
  • 1/4 cup of vinegar
  • 1/4 cup baking soda
  • grater
  • ivory soap
  • dishwashing gloves
  • aluminum foil
  • mixing bowl
  • fabric softener sheets
  • Bar Keepers Friend

Grab a small bowl, and mix in vinegar, cream of tartar, and baking soda until it becomes of a paste consistency. Then grate a bar of ivory soap over the mixture and mix in. With a sponge, or washcloth, spread this paste into your stained aluminum pan, and let sit for 2-3 minutes, or longer depending on how stubborn the stain is, then wipe away with a sponge.

Once the stain is out, you can either rinse off and dry, but what I do is, wash it with dish soap and water again, simply because vinegar has that pungent smell.

Another trick I tried before, was putting a dryer sheet in the pan with boiling water. I let this sit for 3o minutes and it really loosens up the burnt food. I know it sounds a bit strange to put dryer sheets in your pan but it helps.

How to Clean Aluminum Pots Materials & Tools

  • apple peels
  • orange peels
  • lemon peels

So I personally love aluminum cookware since it’s very affordable and conducts heat very well, and guess what? They are easy to clean!

I’ll show you how I clean aluminum pots. I use fruit peels. Yes, fruit peels. The reason being is fruits contain that acidity that cuts through grime and grease and it is perfect! I personally use apple peels, mainly because I like the smell of apples, but if you are looking for more acidity, use a lemon, however, if you don’t have a lemon, you can use the peels of oranges too.

  • Take your dirty aluminum pot and boil water in it
  • Peel an apple. orange or lemon and wait for the water to start boiling then throw in the peels.
  • At this point, you can turn down the heat and let the peels simmer for 20 minutes.
  • After 20 minutes, pour out the water and apple peels, let the pot cool down
  • Rinse out the pot with dish soap and water and BAM, not only you have a clean pot, but you have nice fresh-scented one as well.

Homemade Cleaner

In addition to the mixture above, you can use cream of tartar and vinegar. Pour into the pot of boiling water, let simmer for only 10 minutes this time. Again, pour out the water then wash with liquid dish soap and water.

When cleaning things, lemon is your best friend. You can make a DIY Lemon cleanser. To do this, mix in vinegar, cream of tartar, and lemon juice with 2 tablespoons of whatever cleaner you use. Put this mixture in the pot instead and let it boil for 10-15 minutes, then wash and rinse out.

Preventing Tarnish

Some ways to prevent tarnish is don’t let your aluminum cookware soak in soapy water for extended periods of time. Always hand wash your aluminum cookware too. You don’t want to put them in the dishwasher. if you own one.

Deeper and Stubborn Stains

Got the brown stuff that seems like it will never come off? You need a deeper cleaning then. Wet the pan first. Take some aluminum foil, ball it up and then sprinkle on Bar Keeper’s friend onto the pan and scrub. Don’t do this method if your pan is painted, because then the foil will definitely scratch all of that off.

If you don’t own any Bar Keeper, or never heard of it, you can get this from Walmart or Amazon. It is a cleaner that uses natural acids, is gentle, and effective. Kind of like Comet but Comet actually use chemicals. So if you are the natural type, definitely go for Bar Keepers Friend.

Happy aluminum cookware cleaning!

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