Today’s Tip: Refresh Your Salt and Pepper Shakers

Salt and pepper shakers sit close to cooking and dining areas, where their lids, handles, threads, and bases can collect fingerprints, crumbs, and splashes. Today’s focused reset cleans the accessible parts without introducing moisture into dry seasonings or powered and mechanical grinder components.

Your step-by-step shaker reset

1. Wash your hands, clear a clean section of the counter, and read the manufacturer’s care instructions. Identify whether each item is a simple refillable shaker, a manual grinder, an electric mill, or a decorative container because the cleaning methods may differ.
2. Move the shakers away from active burners, hot pans, steam, and food preparation. Check for cracks, chipped glass or ceramic, corrosion, loose tops, damaged threads, leaking contents, or a grinder that no longer fits together securely.
3. If the instructions permit disassembly, empty usable dry contents into a clean, dry, labeled container or discard stale or contaminated seasoning appropriately. Remove only the lid, stopper, or refill cap designed for routine user access, keeping small parts together.
4. Wash approved removable, nonmechanical parts with the labeled method and a food-contact-safe dish detergent. Use a soft brush on shaker holes and accessible threads, avoiding pins, knives, or other sharp tools that could enlarge openings or damage a seal.
5. Wipe the exterior and base with a clean cloth lightly dampened with an approved solution. Apply product to the cloth instead of spraying the shaker, and keep liquid out of seasoning chambers, battery compartments, switches, grinder mechanisms, seams, wood, and other nonwashable areas.
6. Rinse washable pieces as directed and dry every part completely, including holes, threads, and the underside of the lid. Refill only when the container and seasoning are dry, reassemble without forcing parts, and wipe the final exterior with clean hands before returning it to a dry storage spot.

Keep seasonings easier to maintain

Wipe fresh cooking splashes after the shaker is safely away from heat, avoid handling it with wet or food-soiled hands, and use a clean, dry funnel or spoon for refills. Keep refill packages closed and dry, and replace a shaker that remains difficult to clean or no longer closes securely.

Safety note

Never clean a shaker beside an active burner or expose glass, ceramic, or plastic to a sudden temperature change. Do not immerse a grinder, electric mill, wood component, battery compartment, or other mechanism unless the manufacturer specifically approves it. Never mix cleaning chemicals or use bleach, disinfectant, abrasive powder, solvents, or scented household cleaner on food-contact parts unless the product label and manufacturer expressly permit that use and required rinsing. Do not use a cracked, chipped, corroded, loose, or damaged container, and do not force stuck parts with a knife or excessive pressure. Keep batteries, small caps, stoppers, seasonings, and cleaning products away from children and pets.