Even if most people can no longer hear the advertising slogan “Then it’ll work with the neighbor too” of the beaming housewife with a sparkling wine glass in the camera, the nagging envy tells us all: “I also want to have clean glasses like that .”
However, today’s cleaning lady thinks economically and avoids environmental pollution wherever possible. This commendable attitude is in no way opposed to the Clean Glasses plan. Here are a few tips on how glasses, cutlery, and porcelain, and especially stainless steel, can shine in the kitchen cupboard without water stains.
How are water stains formed?
The given tips work against contamination on dishes, which are usually due to incorrect treatment. Water stains occur when the water cannot flow freely down the clean dishes. Therefore, very well cleaned dishes can air dry without forming water stains. Usually, this condition does not last very long, so it is advisable to dry the dishes well right away.
1. What the dishwasher really needs
Unfortunately, this is often the case: the dishes come out of the dishwasher unclean. On the one hand, this can be due to the wrong acknowledgment, but more often the lack of salt is the devil in the details.
Dishwasher owners should therefore always make sure that there is enough salt in the filling device provided for this purpose. Although the “Minna” washes with hot water alone, the composition of the rinsing water contains magnesium and calcium ions, depending on the degree of hardness, which is deposited in a light layer on the dishes.
The dishwashing salt prevents this process by precisely separating these ions and leads to clean dishes that do not show any streaks when dried with a clean tea towel. Also, note tips for descaling and cleaning the dishwasher.
2. Washing by hand: Crystal clear, environmentally friendly
It’s not the amount of detergent that causes clean dishes. It’s washing dishes with your head. For people who have their own household for the first time: First, the glasses, then the plates, then cutlery, pots, and pans, as these are the dirtiest, in the end. The glasses should be washed so hot that you almost (!) burn your fingers. It is enough not to let the sink fill up completely with water.
Once briefly cleaned underwater with a kitchen sponge inside and outside as well as on the handle, a small amount of cold water can always remove the foam. This means that the washing-up water also has a more bearable washing-up temperature for the dishes that follow the glasses. The other cutlery and dishes are then treated in the same way before they are wiped dry with the tea towel.
3. Tea towel is not a hand towel
Before using them for the first time, new tea towels should be washed just like another laundry, as the textiles often contain chemical color pigments. Not only are these unhealthy, but they also leave a film on the dishes that make spot-free cleaning difficult. Failure to do this first wash can lead to smeared dishes that cannot stand up to scrutiny in the sunlight.
Surprisingly, many people, mostly men, students, and trainees, do not know the difference between a hand towel and a tea towel. In the industrial processing sector, too, this differentiation is no longer made exactly, since they are both almost the same size. However, the tea towel is made of thin cotton or linen fabric, while the hand towel, as a category of body towels, is made of less absorbent but thicker cotton fabric. Since cotton fibers fluff easily, the long-fiber linen tea towel with a dense weave structure is the better choice for drying glasses and good china.
Cutlery and stainless steel can also be perfectly polished with it. The extremely absorbent microfiber cloths are just as powerful. However, when washing at 40 or 60 degrees, they must never get fabric softener on them, as the remains lead to the formation of streaks and the absorbency of the microfiber cloth is reduced by the fibers being pressed together. To ensure that dishes are cleaned as germ-free as possible, the tea towels should also be changed regularly. In addition, note how you can remove coffee and tea rims from cups.
4. When the dishes “take a hit”
If the enamel is broken, it is unfortunately not possible to have a flawless tableware appearance without a professional repair. If, on the other hand, water or dirt stains have formed over a long period of time due to incorrect treatment, which is becoming increasingly clear under the barely visible layer that is not so easy to remove, pure vinegar or citric acid can work wonders.
However, these household helpers, which can effectively replace almost all special chemical cleaners anyway, require a little more exposure time for stubborn dirt. Concentrated vinegar or vinegar essence with 75% water content or acetic acid is easily degradable and the somewhat unpleasant scent disappears in no time. However, this cleaner is powerful against calluses, grease, and limescale and even makes blind glasses and mirror surfaces shiny again.
For burnt pots or greasy pans, a dash of vinegar essence diluted with a soda can be spread over the surface with a sponge. After a short exposure time of about 10 minutes, this mixture, which has practically absorbed dirt and lime, can be easily washed off. Even stubborn burnt residues, such as those often found on grills or in ovens, can be removed in this way without having to scrub.
