You Say Tomato...
Okay, so the title of this blog is going a little overboard. It's not like I go to bed at night with my face streaked with tears wondering why they can't make revolutionary Tupperware that resists even the strongest of tomato sauces, but I do get extremely frustrated when all my glasses and plates are sparkling clean while my plastic food containers look like I just picked them out of the garbage.
I've been doing my dishes by hand ever since my dishwasher broke (apparently, it gets hot enough to melt the plastic water jet shut, which of course is counter-productive), and it puts me up close and personal with blotchy Tupperware that, regardless of how long I scrub, never looks clean. Which of course convinces me that it isn't clean. So, I did what every other beginner-housewife would do: I Googled it.
LycoPain In The Ass
The stains are caused by lycopene, the chemical that gives tomatoes their juicy red hue. Unfortunately, this translates to rust-colored stains on your plastic containers. I won't get into the advanced chemistry of lycopene, partially because it's boring and partially because I don't understand it, but I will say that it is very clingy and bonds to nearly everything (the website made mention of an abundance of electrons and double bonds). Hence, its powerful ability to stain. The more concentrated your tomato product (for instance, ketchup versus a can of diced tomatoes), the more lycopene it has, and the more likely it will be to stain your beautiful Tupperware.
But look on the bright side. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant, so if you're staining Tupperware, at least you know you're getting a good lot of it.
What To Do, What To Do
I haven't tried any of the following remedies, as I just discovered them myself, so I make no claims in regard to their effectiveness. However, I can assure you that I will try many if not all of them, and will report back (eventually) to tell you which one I found most effective. I'm sharing them all here so you can give them a try, too.
Lemon Juice. Add a squirt of lemon juice to warm water and use a clean cloth to scrub at the stains. Also, you can apply a half of a lemon (or a wedge, or a slice from your martini garnish) directly to the stain.
Salt. Use a little bit of salt on a clean, moist cloth and scrub at the stains. The salt works as a mild abrasive with little chance of it scratching your plastic container. I don't really care about scratches, because I generally eat leftovers out of mine and I'm sure my fork does enough scratching.
Bleach. Soak the Tupperware in bleach to kill the lycopene. I personally am not very comfortable with this, as I reserve my use of bleach for the bathroom and it would seem like I'm cross-contaminating my "incomings" with my "outgoings."
Sunlight - The Natural Alternative to Bleach. Leave your food container in the sun for a few hours to break up the stain. This wouldn't work too well for nocturnal housewives like us, for two reasons: There's no sun at night, and ew... we might get a tan if we decided to keep our Tupperware company.
Tang - Not Just for Astronauts. Put one scoop of Tang powder into the container with very hot tap water, and let it sit. Helpful if you have so much Tang you don't know what to do with it all. Maybe you can even drink it once it cools off, so your Tang doesn't die in vain.
Be Brave, Betty Crocker
If you have any tips, or have tried any of the remedies mentioned above, leave a comment and help out your disgruntled sisters.
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kind of gross that tang can break up a stain, yet we drink it...
ReplyDeletei have this really cheap tupperware from Ikea ($5 for 17 pieces) and i've noticed it doesn't stain much. a little here and there, but not enough to make me go crazy or think "um, didn't i clean this already? why is it still dirty!!"
not tried any of your remedies though. you'll have to blog about which works!! :)
Another good way to avoid staining your tupperware from sauces is to spray it with fat free cooking spray...like Pam. :)
ReplyDeleteI like the title of your blog. When you're posting at 6 am because you've stayed up all night writing for money, as you do every night, stumbing upon something like this is quite appealing. Thanks for an interesting read. I'll be following your blog.
ReplyDeleteNot microwaving foods in plastic and waiting until food is completely cool before putting it into them can prevent staining. Also, invest in a few glass containers with tight fitting lids for the tomatoey goodness. Save the plastic nor the non-stainers. That's what I do. I use wide mouthed mason jars (and a few pyrex storage). Mason jars come in several sizes and use the same size lids. Pyrex you can get new with plastic lids or find in funky vintage patterns at yard sales with not as tightly fitting glass lids.
ReplyDelete