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Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide for Caring for Everything in Your Home

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How to Wash and Season Cast Iron Pans

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How to Wash Enamel Pots and Pans

How to Wash Copper Pots and Pans

Copper pots are great—and expensive—cooking tools because copper is an excellent conductor of heat. This means that the metal heats and cools quickly and evenly. To maintain this even heat distribution, you need to keep the copper exterior of your pots gleaming. Most copper pots have a tin-lined interior that’s washed differently from the copper exterior.

How to Wash the Copper Exterior of a Copper Pot

To clean the exterior of a copper pot, wash it with warm, soapy water and dry it with a clean cloth. You can then remove any tarnish from the exterior of the copper pot using either a commercial cleaner or a homemade copper cleaner.

Commercial cleaners: Commercial cleaners such as Nevr-Dull® and Red Bear Copper Cleaner® make copper shine. Always follow the directions on the cleaner.
Homemade copper cleaner: You can make an effective homemade copper cleaner by combining 1 teaspoon salt with 1 cup white vinegar, and then mixing in enough flour to form a paste. Use a clean cloth to apply the paste to the exterior of the pot, then let it sit for an hour. Rinse off the paste using warm water, then use a clean, soft cloth to polish the pot dry.

How to Clean the Tin-Lined Interior of a Copper Pot

Tin is a very soft metal and needs to be cleaned carefully and gently. Never use any abrasive cleaners or cleaning pads that are more abrasive than a light-duty white nylon pad. Generally, you can clean the interior of a copper pot simply with warm, soapy water. For more difficult jobs:

Fill the pot with a mixture of 1 cup water to 2 tablespoons baking soda.
Put the pot on the stove top and bring it to a boil.
Turn off the heat and let the pot soak for an hour.
Scrub the interior of the pot with a sponge, dish cloth, or (if the food stains are really stubborn) a white, light-duty nylon pad.

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