The kitchen: The heart of the home

about 19 hours ago (Edited)

For a foodie like me, the kitchen is the heart of any home. This is a place where delicious meals are prepared. It is my first post in this community, and I can say that I am glad to be here. Surfing through this community, I came across the monthly prompt, which is to beautify the kitchen, and since then, I've been thinking about what I can do to make my kitchen more ideal and beautiful to behold. One of the things that make cooking fun and make a kitchen look ideal is clean and well-arranged kitchen utensils. It contains essential appliances such as stoves, ovens, refrigerators, sinks, blenders, microwaves, and lots more. Likewise, kitchen utensils like pots, spoons, frying pans, plates, sieves, baskets, and lots more. These tools make it easy to cook various meals, from simple snacks to meals for feasts.

Every individual has different ways of arranging their kitchen; modern kitchens are well-designed and decorated with storage cabinets and pantries to help keep ingredients organized and spacious enough for food preparation. I'm not using ceramic pots or Teflon pots, popularly known as nonstick pots, so there will surely be stains caused by the heat from the fire that even after washing the pots, such stains would refuse to go, and it sure makes pots look unkempt.

I've tried several methods, including, the recent one of Coca-Cola, soda, and salt, yet the stain remained. Then I thought of the next method I could use. Then an idea sprung up in my mind; I remember those days while living with my grandma; she said ashes are efficient for bleaching off difficult stains on pots, but many neglected it because they thought such a method was too archaic and dirty. They can't bring such a thing into their kitchen; it would litter everywhere, so to speak.

Thanks to technology, one can easily find the chemical composition of any substance or compound and as a biochemist, you can't take that away from me. I believe every substance, those ones we refer to as natural roots and herbs, has a chemical composition, so I switched to Google to find the chemicals that give ashes its magic to remove stubborn stains from pots. Ash or ashes are obtained from burnt plant materials or wood. Generally, ash contains inorganic minerals left after burning . I will try my best not to use scientific names that would require many explanations😂😂😂.

Ash contains calcium carbonate, especially from wood and plants; it also contains potassium carbonate, magnesium oxide, silicon dioxide, which is common in plant materials, and phosphates, which are important for soil fertility. Most importantly, ash can be used to enhance plant growth because wood ash is rich in calcium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus. Ash also raises soil PH, and when sprinkled around plants, ash can deter pests like slugs but that's for another day because as good as it is, it can also be not so good for plants and human health.

I'm emphasizing on coal ash or wood ash. I got my ashes from charcoal and charcoal is made from wood. Ash can remove stubborn stains from pots mainly due to its fine nature and rough nature to remove dirt. These two natures make ash effective at cutting through grease and carbon deposits, especially on aluminum or iron pots used on firewood stoves.

For my bleach, I mixed my collected ash together with a small amount of detergent, then mixed it with a small amount of water to make it mild. I then rub it around the affected part of my pot, which I would like to remove the stain, then scrub gently with an iron sponge, and ta-da! I have my pots back in good condition shining as I wanted. I made short videos to demonstrate the process and the final result. This is my entry for the May edition of the DIY community prompt. Do well to read, comment, and practice as I will be awaiting your testimony.