Sauerkraut as a Cleaner? I was Amazed!
By nielbullock
@nielbullock (54)
United States
January 18, 2009 11:04pm CST
We have this Krona pot that we use as a tea kettle. It sits on the cook top all day and rarely makes it into the dishwasher. Because of this, it gets a lot of lime scale buildup in it. It is a white powdery mess that lines the bottom and sides, up to the normal water level. I have tried vinegar, baking soda and I have even used steel wool soap pads - nothing has worked. Yesterday, I was draining a large can of sauerkraut using the pot to hold the wire mesh strainer. The kraut juice filled the bottom up about 1 1/2 inch.
I was amazed this morning when I took the pot out of the dishwasher and it was sparking clean on the bottom and sides where the juice had come up to. There was nothing but a one inch band of the white stuff above that point. I immediately went to the pantry and found a can of kraut, open it, and strained the juce into the pot. I then dipped a paper towel in it and wiped the band of white stuff off.
The pot looks brand new on the inside now. I wounder what else it can clean?
3 people like this
4 responses
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
19 Jan 09
There is a product called "teapot descaler". from what I can gather it is a stainless steel wire mesh that the calcium or mineral collect on then when it is full you just rinse the the minerals off under running water. I have no idea where to find it. My grandmother used to put glass marbles in her tea kittle to keep the lime and minerals down. Maybe some stainless steel ball bearing would do the same thing.
@Arkie69 (2156)
• United States
19 Jan 09
Be careful what you clean with it full strength. The salt and vinegar combination makes a pretty strong acid. When the salt dissolves in the vinegar it makes a pretty strong chlorine. You can mix up a leach of 8 parts saturated salt water to 1 part Nitric acid and it will dissolve gold. It is called SSN leach. Your lime is a mineral and there are several acids that will dissolve it instantly. Try you a corroded penny in the Juice and see if it will make the penny shine. If you try to clean silverware or something like that be careful. Cut it about 50% with water before you put it on any silver. Something like that can eat the shine off silver before you can spit. Glad you found out how to remove the lime.
Art
@nielbullock (54)
• United States
20 Jan 09
Wow, and we eat that stuff. Thanks for the tips, I am going to open the lab and break out the beakers. Let's see what I can dissolve. :0)
