Club Soda Is The Secret To Cleaning Your Prized Cast Iron

Every home cook knows that cast iron cookware is a crucial asset to your kitchen. Cast iron pots and pans are extremely durable, great at retaining heat, and can make your food more flavorful. If properly cleaned, stored, and seasoned, a high quality cast iron skillet can last a lifetime. Just don't buy into the common myths about cast iron, like that it can't be washed with soap and water.

That being said, over-scrubbing or soaking your cast iron pan can break down its seasoning, the thin layer of oil baked onto the surface that provides the pan's semi-nonstick properties and helps prevent it from rusting. If that seasoning erodes, you may end up with spots of rust that need to be removed before using the pan again. Even if rust isn't an issue, cooking can be a messy endeavor and it's common for bits of food to stick to a cast iron skillet after use. So how can you properly clean cast iron without eroding the seasoning?

One miracle beverage can help: club soda. Club soda is a truly versatile liquid with so many potential applications in the kitchen, from mixing drinks to removing wine stains to improving fry batter. It's also great for removing rust and crusted-on food from cast iron skillets. To try this trick, add club soda to the pan while it's still hot. Let it soak for a few minutes, then gently work away at the area with a cleaning brush.

At some point over the course of your life, you probably learned of club soda's nearly mythical cleaning and stain-removing capabilities, but did you ever stop to wonder where they come from? The reason club soda is a more powerful cleaning agent than water alone is likely due to its added minerals and carbonation. Though scientists have not found sufficient evidence to prove club soda is the superior cleaning agent, anecdotal tests certainly point that way.

Unlike plain seltzer or sparkling water, club soda contains additional minerals that give it a distinctly salty flavor, and these salts act as an abrasive and an absorber to help remove unwanted particles from a surface. Club soda is also more acidic than regular water due to the carbonic acid produced from the carbonation process, which makes it more effective at lifting mineral deposits such as rust. Most importantly, the bubbles themselves act as a surfactant, literally lifting and moving soil particles.

That means club soda isn't just useful for cleaning cast iron; it can be a great tool for cleaning all types of surfaces. Due to its abrasive and acidic properties, it's particularly useful for removing mineral stains like rust. If getting the food crust (technically known as "fond") off your pan is more pressing, caramelizing onions in your cast iron is a surprisingly useful solution.