The wonders of baking soda

I have been missing for quite some time, but real life beckons. I have been cooking but been lazy to take photos or blog about them. Wasn't feeling in tiptop shape over the past weeks due to changes to the dosage of my medication. Hope I will adjust to it soon enough.

However, I had this little tip which I wanted to share. It has to do with the very insignificant baking soda.

My aunt has a neighbour who is a fanatic over organic living. She hails from Taiwan and has one room designated to all her organic products. Stepping in, you'd think you had stepped into a mini organic mart. Each time she goes home for a visit, she fills up her suitcases with rice, coconut oil, all the many bottles of sauces, grains etc that she consumes on a daily basis. It was really very interesting to learn about each product as she very patiently took us through on a visit to her home once.

Due to the language barrier, as my aunt isn't very strong in Mandarin and the lady doesn't speak English to well, there are many things that my aunt can't make out. However, she understands enough. The recipe for this baking soda mixture was what she picked up from the neighbour.

She convinced me that it worked wonders so I figured, since I had a big box of the powder in the cabinet, I would put it to use. It's really easy. Just 2 tbsps of baking soda dissolved in 500ml of water. Shake it up and it's ready to use. I put mine in a bottle with a nozzle to spray on, as and when I need it.

It is great on greasy surface, thus cooker hobs are a great place to begin this experiment. I had a glass chopping board which was black in one corner as it was the closest in proximity to the stove. Oil and dust collected over time made it rather dark. When I began my experiment on the baking soda solution, I didn't intend to use it on the board, but rather on the backsplash, and the area behind the stove. A little bit of the solution did drop onto the board and I noticed there was one streak of white. I decided to spray over the entire section of black and everything came off in an instance!

Try it! The right way is to then go over it with a vinegar solution and wipe over. The reason for this is that soda removes the grease while vinegar kills germs. I will check for the recipe for vinegar solution before updating here so look out for it.

An environmentally-safe product good for the Earth as well as for our own health.