Got Cloudy Wine Glasses? Reach For The Baking Soda

From bringing a fluffy lift to boxed cake mixes, to doubling as a simple stain remover, baking soda has earned its spot as a staple ingredient in most kitchens. What you might not know is that this powder can also be a handy solution for cloudy wine glasses too.

You can invest in a fancy wine decanter, and purchase the best bottle of wine, but the experience will be ruined if you're still left with a set of cloudy glassware. Since these fragile vessels are not the best match for the intensity of modern dishwashers and detergents, washing them by hand is usually best. While this might mean extra time standing in front of the sink, with a little bit of baking soda, the process is actually pretty easy.

To clean glasses with this ingredient, simply fill a cloudy wine glass halfway with warm white vinegar and a teaspoon of baking soda. (For further cleaning, add a pump of dish soap to the mix.) The chemical reaction that follows will help loosen stains. This is becausevinegar is an acid, so it can break down stubborn stains, and since baking soda is a base, it's also a great nonabrasive cleaner of organic compounds. In conclusion, the two make the perfect pair, and are a great substitute for artificial cleaners. After the fizzing between the two dies down, scrub the glasses with a small brush, such as a toothbrush or sponge, and rinse with warm water then leave out to dry.

After cleaning the cloudy glasses, they should be left sparkling and spotless, even after the deepest red has graced their interior. (And hint, to minimize the mystery smudges and excess fingerprints on nice glassware, learn the right way to hold a wine glass.) Especially stubborn stains might require a few extra rinses with this vinegar and baking soda solution. So, to reduce the possibility of future cloudiness, steer clear of heavy detergents which create sticky residues, and rinse wine glasses instantly after drinking from them. Even if your glasses have been sitting unused for a while, the fragile glass can become cloudy due to dust and other debris, so wash them periodically no matter how often they're used.

Now if you want to save some time and use a dishwasher to clean wine glasses, you can still do so, but make sure to give the glasses space between each other to avoid any breakage, and place them on the top rack to avoid excessive contact with the washer's heating element (which is usually located at the bottom of the machine). And hey, if your dishwasher's dirty, you can use baking soda and vinegar to clean it out too. (And if you like how this mixture transforms a wine glass, try cleaning the coffee maker with baking soda next.)