fun with spices

[cellio]

Among the plastic utensils in my kitchen, black ones are for meat and white ones are for milk.

Mattar paneer is made with cheese (hence milk). It is also made with tumeric.

That spatula has now been through several scrubbings and a dishwasher run. It's still bright yellow. I wonder what I did wrong; this is not the first time I've made mattar paneer since kashering the kitchen, but it's the first time the stain wouldn't wash out.

I'm not upset about the spatula (which I'll probably replace); I'm just a little befuddled by the whole experience.

Comments

[laurabee.livejournal.com]

I couldn't tell you why it did that, but I've had the same experience with spices and plastic utensils. Sometimes they stain the plastic, other times they don't. I haven't found a pattern. Weird.

[baronessv.livejournal.com]

If the spatula used has seen more general "use" since the last time it was used[1] it's possible that it had more micro-scratches and roughening of the surface than the last time it tasted turmeric. Or perhaps if it was in contact with the turmeric for a longer period of time, the stain had more time to set in?

At any rate, I might suggest a very very VERY mild bleach solution soak to see if it'll lift the stain.

[cellio]

Good point! It's been a while since I last cooked with tumeric, so it's certainly had the opportunity to become more worn. There's very little to lose in trying the mild bleach solution, so I'll give that a shot. (While, technically, the spatula is certainly clean by now, and thus unlikely to impart tumeric flavor to anything else, I'm still a little hesitant to use it generally.)

[baronessv.livejournal.com]

You'll have to let me know if it works. ;)

Oh, and the footnote I forgot was [1]Let's see how many times I can use the word "use" in this sentence!