How do I get rid of an odor in my rice cooker?
Rice cookers are valuable tools for cooking rice,
as well as other meals. Unfortunately, these giant appliances are not
dishwasher safe – and since many of these rice cookers have sealed tops that
make it difficult to see inside, it is not uncommon to accidentally leave
some food (especially when you are not cooking rice) in the rice cooker for
an extended period of time.
The result? A foul odor that is very tough to
remove from your rice cooker. Due to the way rice cookers are designed, it
can be very hard to remove this scent from your machine no matter how hard
you try to scrub it. Luckily, there are several different ways of trying to
get the smell to leave your rice cooker so that your rice comes out smelling
as great as it tastes.
How to Remove Smells
1.
Simply Steam (w/lemon)
One quick way of trying to remove the smells that
can build up is to simply steam your rice cooker without any food or rice
inside, waiting until the machine has boiled away all of the water. The
steam itself is a natural antibacterial and when there are no other starches
to get in the way it may easily be able to remove the scent on its own.
However, to help remove the smell, you can also add a lemon into the rice
cooker so that the steam spreads the lemon scent around.
2.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is great for removing foul odors from
appliances. A box of baking soda can prevent your refrigerator from smelling
for months. That same power can be used in your rice cooker. Use a small
brush or toothbrush to scrub the entire inside of the device, and then wash
the baking soda away. Afterward you can let some baking soda sit inside for
one or two days, and then wash the remainder out. This helps soak up any of
the nasty odors that may have built up over time.
3.
Coffee
A final method for removing harsh smells is to
simply overpower them with a stronger smell. If you have ever spent time
near the perfume section of a department store, you have likely seen coffee
grounds available for overpowering the scent of the perfume so that you can
smell another one with fresh sensors. Coffee grounds inside your rice cooker
will not remove all smells, but it will help make the scent inside more
pleasant until it goes away over time.
Cleaning Your Rice Cooker
Always try the steam method first, as it is the
easiest of all of the options and can also kill off any bacteria that may be
present from letting your food sit for too long. After you have run it
through with lemon, there is no harm running it one or two times more just
to make sure that you have removed every last trace of the smell and killed
off much of the odor causing bacteria. If that doesn’t work, baking soda is
likely your next best option.
Return to Rice Cooker Guide Home Page