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How to Clean Silicone Bakeware

How to Clean Silicone Bakeware

by | Jun 10, 2019 | Silicone in Modern Times

Silicone bakeware is great for maximizing storage space in your cupboard, but often it is quite difficult to clean. Grease and other food residue seems to stick to it relentlessly. However, with a little elbow grease, baking soda, and anti-grease dish soap, you can have your silicone bakeware looking like new in no time.

Using Grease-Cutting Dish Soap

Fill the sink with dish soap and water. 

Stopper your kitchen sink and fill it with very hot water – as hot as you can tolerate. Pour in a few drops of anti-grease dish soap and mix it in so that the water suds up. The grease-cutting dish soap is designed to tackle hard to clean stains like the ones famously acquired by silicone bakeware.

  • Make sure you use very hot water. Lukewarm or cold water will not be quite as effective at cleaning your silicone bakeware.

Soak the silicone bakeware in grease-cutting dish soap. Place the silicone bakeware in the hot, soapy water and let it soak. Leave the bakeware in the sink for at least thirty minutes, though you may need to leave it for a bit longer (one hour) for really tough stains.[

  • While your preference might be to use a more natural dish soap, those ingredients won’t be nearly as effective for the tough stains you’ll find on your silicone bakeware.

Scrub with a nonabrasive sponge. Apply some more of the grease-cutting dish soap and scrub the silicone bakeware with a nonabrasive sponge. Really get in there and scrub hard to remove the stains.[

  • You may have to spend quite a bit of time and energy getting rid of these stains.

Repeat the process. To get the stains out, you may need to repeat the process several times. It will take some real elbow grease to get some of these stains out of your silicone bakeware. Try using the grease-cutting dish soap again and scrubbing it over and over.[

  • Try to use even hotter water the second time. If you use rubber gloves, you’ll be able to use hotter water while cleaning your silicone bakeware.

Rinse and dry the silicone bakeware. When you have finished scrubbing the stains on your silicone bakeware, you should rinse off any remaining soapy residue in the sink. Then place the bakeware upside down on a towel or drying rack to let the water run off.

  • Make sure you allow the silicone to dry completely before you begin using it again. This usually takes at least an hour or two.
Removing Tougher Stains

Heat up your silicone bakeware before cleaning. 

For extra tough greasy stains, it can be beneficial to heat your silicone bakeware up in the oven before cleaning. Preheat your oven to 350 °F (177 °C). Once the oven is fully preheated, put the silicone bakeware into the oven for ten minutes. This will help heat up the food stains that are stuck on the bakeware and make them easier to clean.[

  • After you’ve heated up the bakeware, try washing it with grease-cutting dish soap and baking soda.
  • Be careful not to burn yourself while handling the bakeware when you remove it from the oven.

Apply baking soda. Wet down your silicone bakeware in the sink and shake all the water off. You want the item to be damp, but not dripping wet. Identify the places where there are still greasy food stains and sprinkle some baking soda on each spot.

  • Be sure to give a generous sprinkling of the baking soda, not just a light dusting.

Make a paste out of the baking soda. Gently massage the baking soda with a damp cloth so that the water helps the baking soda powder form into a thick paste. You want the baking soda paste to be applied heavily to each stain on your silicone bakeware.

  • Let the baking soda dry completely, which could take several hours.

Rinse and repeat. Once the baking soda is fully dried, rinse it off in the sink with hot water. If the stains have not dissipated at this point, you can try washing it with grease-cutting dish soap again or apply the baking soda again.

  • You may have to repeat this process quite a few times to get your silicone bakeware perfectly cleaned.

Rinse and dry the bakeware. Once you have finished removing the baking soda paste, use some dish soap to wash the silicone. Then rinse all of the soap off in the kitchen sink. You should place the silicone bakeware on a towel or a drying rack and let it fully dry before using the item again.

  • Be sure not to store your silicone bakeware in the cabinet while it is still wet, as this could lead to mold and bacteria forming on your kitchenware.
Taking Preventative Measures

Rinse immediately after use. One of the worst things you can do to silicone bakeware is let the residue sit for long periods of time before cleaning. As soon as you finish baking, you should rinse out the silicone bakeware with grease-cutting dish soap. This will help maintain the integrity of your silicone bakeware and make future cleaning much easier.[

  • At the very least, fill the silicone bakeware with water and dish soap immediately after use so you can go back and clean it later.

Avoid using abrasive sponges. Scrubbing silicone bakeware with abrasive sponges will not work any more effectively in cleaning than a regular sponge or cloth will. And it may even damage your silicone bakeware in the process.[

  • Using an abrasive sponge can chip off pieces of the silicone and, over time, minimize the nonstick elements of the pan.

Forego the cooking sprays. Silicone bakeware is considered nonstick in its own right, so you don’t need to use nonstick cooking sprays with this type of bakeware. It will not help you get items out of the silicone pan any quicker than you would be able to with it.[

  • Additionally, using cooking sprays with silicone bakeware will contribute to the sticky, greasy mess you have to clean up later and cause more damage to your pan over time.

Resources: https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Silicone-Bakeware

Silicon or Silicone?

Silicon or Silicone?

by | Jun 3, 2019 | Silicone in Modern Times

Although it may appear that the words silicon and silicone can be used interchangeably, there are some significant differences between them. Silicon is a natural chemical element found in great abundance on Earth, primarily as a major component of common sand. Silicon is generally found in a crystalline form. Silicone is a man-made substance derived from silicon and other chemicals, and it may be a liquid or a rubber-like plastic polymer.

One major difference between silicon and silicone is their commercial use. Pure silicon is an ideal semi-conductor, like the more expensive element germanium. It is possible to heat silicon into a molten state and then form it into wafers. These semi-conductive wafers can then be used as a base for the intricate and microscopic electronic circuitry required for computer processing. This relationship between silicon and the technology industry inspired the nickname for the California high-tech region known as Silicon Valley.

 

Silicone, on the other hand, is used for a number of other industrial applications. Liquid silicone is often used as a lubricant for machine parts, for example. A thicker form of rubberized silicone can also be used as a waterproof sealant around windows and other gaps. Cured silicone is flexible, moisture-resistant and transparent.

Silicon and silicone are both used to create fireproof or heat-resistant products, but silicon is generally used to create ceramic glazes, glass or bricks while silicone is used to create heat-resistant kitchen aids. Many cooks rely on silicone-based gloves, tongs, pot holders and pan handles to prevent burns and scalds. Silicone also possesses non-stick qualities, so it can be formed into flexible cookware such as muffin and baking pans.

Silicone is also chemically inert and considered low in toxicity for humans. This makes it an ideal material for medical prosthetics, most notably as the fluid used to fill prosthetic sacs during breast augmentation surgery. This practice of using silicone as an alternative to saline has become quite controversial in recent years, since a number of patients have reported serious medical complications following the rupture of silicone-filled breast implants.

In short, the difference between silicon and silicone is that silicon is a natural chemical element, while silicone is one of several man-made products derived from silicon. Silicon is generally found in solid crystalline form like sand or glass, while silicone may be a liquid lubricant, a semi-solid adhesive or a rubber-like plastic polymer.

 

 Silicon is the 14th element on the periodic table. It’s a metalloid, meaning it has properties of both metals and nonmetals, and is the second most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, after oxygen. Silicon readily bonds with oxygen and is rarely found in nature in its pure form. You’ve likely seen silicon as silicon dioxide or silica, better known as quartz, which is the most common component of sand.

Silica also comes in other mineral forms, such as flint, jasper, and opal. When silicon and oxygen mix with reactive metals, the result is a class of minerals called silicates, which includes granite, feldspar, and mica.

Resources

https://www.livescience.com/37598-silicon-or-silicone-chips-implants.html, https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-silicon-and-silicone.htm