What’s that Yucky Stuff? Tip of the Week

Here’s the tip for the week:  Don’t leave salt or pepper in your good glass shakers.  Unless you don’t mind a brownish residue from the pepper or peeling shiny stuff on the lids.

These are Rose Point salt and pepper shakers, lovely little things.  Now you should know that these are by no means as brownish and yucky in person as they look in the photo.  They aren’t perfectly clear but they look a lot better!

The brownish haze is from the pepper.  You wouldn’t think pepper would stain, and it really doesn’t, at least it isn’t a permanent stain you cannot remove.  I used a bent swab to get as much off as possible, and if I soaked these in peroxide or denture cleaner the brown would lighten up.

Those lids are another story.  The lids have a shiny metal coating on them that is peeling.  That’s common with older shakers, but you can avoid it by taking the salt out.  I had one set of depression glass shakers where the salt lid was like lace, all holes with over half of it eaten away.

Here’s how to take care of salt and pepper shakers:

• Take the salt and pepper out of the shakers you don’t use often.  Fill them when you want to use them.
• Wash shakers with a bent cotton tipped swab.
• Use peroxide or denture cleaner to remove brown stains from pepper.