How to Wash Up Utensils
Preparing and eating food requires a variety of utensils made of assorted materials. Most kitchens contain some stainless steel utensils, wood utensils, plastic utensils and even silver utensils. After you use your utensils and it is time to clean up, wash up utensils properly to ensure they get clean and free of harmful bacteria. The washing techniques are similar for each different material, except for silver utensils. With careful maintenance, any kitchen utensil should stay shiny, clean and ready to use. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Dish-washing detergent
- Dishpans (1 or 2)
- Chlorine bleach
- Dishcloth
- Nylon scrubber
- Dish towel
Instructions
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1
Fill a sink with warm water and add two to three squirts of dish-washing detergent to the water. Fill another sink (or a dishpan) with warm water for rinsing. Fill a third dishpan with 1 gallon of cool water and 1 tsp. of chlorine bleach for sanitizing the utensils.
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Wash the utensils in the sink of soapy water. Use the dishcloth to scrub both the handles and the eating surfaces or working surfaces of each utensil to remove all food residues from the utensils. Scrub the utensils with the nylon scrubber if you find stubborn food that does not remove easily.
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3
Rinse the utensils in the rinse water to remove the soap residues.
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4
Place the utensils into the sanitizing water and leave them in the sanitizing water for two minutes.
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5
Remove the utensils from the sanitizing water and dry them with the dish towel.
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6
Put the utensils away.
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Tips & Warnings
Clean wood utensils in the same fashion, except consider oiling the wood utensils with a light coat of olive oil after they dry. The olive oil will help keep wood utensils moist, which will prevent splinters and chips.
Wash stainless steel and plastic utensils safely in the dishwasher, if you desire. Always wash wood utensils and silver utensils by hand.
Wash silver utensils separately, using a phosphate-free soap, not regular dish-washing detergent. Never use a bleach solution on silver. If you notice tarnishing over time, polish the silver utensils with a silver polish. Buff off the polish with a cleaning cloth to finish polishing. The more you use silver utensils, the less likely they are to tarnish.
References
- Photo Credit kitchen utensils image by Victor M. from Fotolia.com
