Cast Iron Teapot Help

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

GB

Chief Eating Officer
Joined
Jul 14, 2004
Messages
25,510
Location
USA,Massachusetts
A few years ago my brother gave me this great cast iron teapot as a gift. I took such great care of this pot as I had wanted it for a long time and really loved it. Today I went to use it for the first time in many months. I got a very nasty surprise when I took the top off. Apparently someone (supposedly my mom) had used the pot to make some tea. This person neglected to empty it after done.

The pot was about a quart of the way full. When I poured it out it was a thick sludge with jellyfish looking blogs of who knows what. It was as black as dirty motor oil and really nasty.

How do I clean this pot so that I can use it again? I seem to remember reading that I am not supposed to use soap in this. The cleaning instructions just have you rinse it out with water then dry with a towel and leave to air dry the rest of the way. That is not going to cut it this time. There are chunks of black sludge that are just not coming out and of course I can not see in the spout to see what is or is not in there.

Any ideas on how to clean this so that it is safe to use would be greatly appreciated.
 
GB....If you can get your hand in it, I would scrub the devil out of it with a SOS/Brillo pad to get it clean. Rinse well. Boil a pot of water...throw it out...Boil another pot full...throw it out...Boil another...Well you get the idea....Enough times that, when the water cooled it tasted fine!
 
The inside has a very shiny highly polished looking surface though. I am nervous that a brillo pad type scrubber will damage it. That also will not get into the spout. I have been putting very hot water in and letting it soak then repeating, but doing that alone I fear will not do the job. Thanks for the suggestions UB.
 
What about trying powdered dishwasher detergent dissolved in hot water and let it sit? Or perhaps one of the commercial coffee pot cleaners? Also, I'm pretty sure dissolving denture cleaner tablets would work very well but you probably don't have any on hand.
 
The inside has a very shiny highly polished looking surface though. I am nervous that a brillo pad type scrubber will damage it. That also will not get into the spout. I have been putting very hot water in and letting it soak then repeating, but doing that alone I fear will not do the job. Thanks for the suggestions UB.

Scratch what I said then. I assumed it was cast iron inside. Any idea what the inside is made of? Some type of liner? Interesting. Then of course contacting the manufacturer is an option.
 
Thanks Fishers Mom. I am pretty sure I am not supposed to use any kind of soap on it though so that would rule out dishwasher det. i am intrigued by the deanture cleaner idea though. That might help.

UB, the inside it black, just like the outside. It almost looks like it is coated in clear nail polish or something.
 
Shiny steel inside, like SS or polished carbon?

You can do the bleach trick with water, or boil vinegar, but I imagine you’re weary of tainting the vessel because of taste?

How about boiling some oil in it. Maybe 3/4 or so full, and get it hot. No need to actually fry in it, but smoking temp of oil is 400+. Try that, let it cool, dump it, then boil some water a few times. You’ll definitely kill any “nasties” in there, but flavor? Note sure….but since it is oil, it won’t mix with your tea water.
 
Well I can not boil anything in it. It can not go on a burner. I would be very nervous about putting oil in it as I can't use soap to get it out so there would always be some oil in the pot and I don't really want oily tea.

Here is a picture. The black spots are some of the gunk that is still in there. The part I am most concerned about is the spout as it is very small and will be hard to get something in there to be sure I get all the gunk.

 
What about trying good old hydrogen peroxide straight from the bottle? I'm thinking some sort of foaming or bubbling action might help loosen and release the stubborn gunk.
 
It really is a nice pot. It makes the whole tea experience that much nicer when drinking out of it.
 
The "shiney insides" might be an enamel coating - especially if it extends all the way up inside the pot and not just to the level of the sludge. The source of the shiney is going to make a difference in how you clean it.

Are there any markings to indicate where it was made?

For the spout - you're going to need a bottle or test tube brush.
 
Nope it is not teflon. I think the flash from the camera made it look a bit different. Those spots are the sludge (kind of like tar) that once was the tea.
 
Yes Michael, I bet it is enamel now that you mention it. It has the same feel as the inside of my LC French oven.

OK I just went to the website where the pot came from (hitting myself in the head for not doing that first) and found my tea pot. Michael, you are correct that it is enameled. It does not say where it was made, but it is a Japanese pot, at least in style.
 
What about baking soda and vinegar. The bubble action has cleaned many a sippy cup of milk left under the car seat from my nieces. It's a chemical type reaction, but it's safe. We also use this as a natural way to clean steel pipes, plastic pipes, copper pipes, a lot of things where you don't want to create any erosion. I've never had baking soda scratch.

Generally you can use salt and ice chips to clean seasoned cast iron, but I don't know about that enamel inside. I don't know how enamel handles salt. We use the salt and ice method on coffee pots where you can't use soap and it doesn't scratch the glass.
 
Back
Top Bottom