The magic of Baking Soda

 If there's a soda that I like more than Coca Cola, it may just be baking soda. Although the name implies it's meant for baking, I've so far used it for anything but that. One of the popular posts that have been floating about is how effective baking soda is when it comes to cleaning out your oven. Mine was overdue for a clean. In fact, I don't know if it's ever been cleaned before.

To make it less risky, I decided to test it on the baking tray first. The tray has a couple of rust stains and while I don't usually place the food on it directly, the food sometimes do overflow onto it. To begin, prepare the mixture of baking soda and water. You can use a proper spoon or just estimate it as you go along, using your finger to mix them up. I don't know for sure if that's going to be a problem except your finger will probably feel a little chilly while stirring.

The consistency that you're looking for is not too water, almost like a paste. I find that it tends to stick to the stain better if it's slightly thicker.

Cover the stain with paste. I think I may have overdone it slightly but you can't have a pan that's too clean. The next thing is a test of patience. My pan was surprisingly stained even on the bottom. However, I had to wait until the top layer has dried out before I could flip it over. Leave it at least overnight for it to work its magic. Few days wouldn't be too much or damaging to the pan. It was very satisfying to see the initially white paste turn slightly brown from having absorbed the stain.

Clean it with a damp cloth or use a toothbrush to brush it away.

 My spanky shiny clean pan. It really works 😍

I've also tried it on motor oil residue. It works though not as well and you may need to use a spatula to remove the dried paste along with the caked up oil. Another magic potion is toothpaste. Need to freshen your taps? Scrub it with some toothpaste and watch it shine again.