Do you have a stained aluminum steamer covered with ugly grey and brown spots? No matter how hard you scrub, the stubborn spots in the bottom basin can’t be removed. The good news is there is an ingredient in your kitchen which will remove these yucky stains without exerting any elbow grease. Yep! You can easily remove those stains without having to scrub at all. Does it sound to good to be true? 🙂
What Causes the Staining?
When the water is heated in the aluminum basin, oxides form and this is the substance causing the dark stains. Oxide forms on aluminum really quickly and you can’t prevent this natural chemical reaction from occurring. However, you don’t have to put up with it making your pots look dirty and dingy.
1 Ingredient and 1 Step to Clean a Stained Steamer
One simple item is all you need to clean a stained steamer and it’s lemons. Lemons are acidic and the acid will remove those stubborn spots. Here’s how you do it: Simply cut a small lemon into wedges. Squeeze the lemon wedges, putting the juice into a steamer basin filled two-thirds full with water. Once all the juice is extracted, add the lemon rinds as well. Cover the basin with a lid and boil on High heat for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, pour out the hot water and discard the lemons. Using a little soap, wash and rinse the steamer basin well. It is now sparkling and clean. Amazing! All those ugly spots are now gone.
If you don’t have any lemons on hand, distilled white vinegar also works wonders too. Simply add 2 Tbsp to the steamer basin. Again, boil on High for 10 minutes. Wash and rinse well.
As I mentioned earlier, you can’t stop the oxidation process from happening, so clean your steamer regularly using this easy process. I use this lemon juice trick to clean my steamer every fourth or fifth time I use my steamer. Also, depending on what I am making, I add the lemon juice while steaming my foods. Making a meal and cleaning the steamer at the same time. Now that’s efficiency!
Love to use a aluminum steamer? Check out these scrumptious dishes:
Steamed Fish and Bean Thread Noodle (Ca Chung Tuong Bun Tau)
Savory Steamed Rice Cakes (Banh Beo)
Steamed Banana Cake (Banh Chuoi Hap)
Steamed Layer Cake (Banh Da Lon)
Tools I Love and Use in My Kitchen
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