First off let me say if the tin lining in your copper cookware is stained you do NOT need to clean it. Having said that ... here's how to clean it, lol.
Copper pots tarnish. True story. I don't mind the look of copper pots that are tarnished so I don't clean mine very often; maybe once or twice a year? I just use the standard copper polish or a lemon and salt if I'm out of polish.
I've never even thought of cleaning the tin lining of them. I mean other than washing the pot.
I'd never had to think about cleaning the tin lining ... because I'd never left pasta with rapini in a pot for 3 days straight. Until I did.
I made one of my favourite, go-to recipes, this penne and rapini recipe from chef Cory Vitiello on the Catelli website. This has nothing to do with cleaning the tin lining of pots but if you want a GREAT Italian recipe that doesn't involve a red sauce try this one. Lemons, chorizo sausage, penne, rapini, lemon juice, Fontina cheese and hot peppers. SO good.
If on the other hand you'd like a classic spaghetti and meatballs recipe, I'm pretty fond of my own recipe for that.
Right. Back to cleaning the tin lining of your copper pots. So what I did was leave an entire pot of this dish on my stove for 3 days. Maybe 4, I can't remember. I ate my dinner the first night I made it and just put the whole pot of leftovers in the fridge instead of transferring them to a bowl. Stupid mistake #1.
Then after 2 days in the fridge I took it out and put it on the stove to have for dinner. Then that night I had a hideous migraine and couldn't even think of moving let alone eating. So there the pot sat until the next morning at which point I decided it looked quite pretty on the stove and decided to get to dealing with it later in the day. Which turned into the next day. Which turned into the day after that.
Which turned the tin lining in my copper pot BLACK. You could see every single spot that the rapini had touched as blobs of black.
I washed it and washed it and it still looked like this.
See? Blobs of black. Normally discoloured cookware like this wouldn't bother me. That's what happens when you use pots and pans. They get used looking. But this dark, random blobby mess bugged me and I wanted to clean it up.
Why not just scrub the copper pots tin lining?
You can't scrub the tin lining in copper pots because the layer of tin is thin and soft, so vigorous scrubbing will remove it.
How to Clean the Tin Lining in Copper Pots.
Materials
- Aluminum foil, the size of the bottom of the pan
- Baking soda, 1-2 Tbsps
- non-iodized salt, 1-2 Tbps
- water
Method
- Fill your pan or pot with water and bring it to a boil on the stove.
- Once it boils, remove the pan from the heat and add the baking soda and salt.
- Fold a long sheet of aluminum into thirds and put it in the pot. Push it down with a wood spoon and set a bowl on top to keep it from floating.
- Put a lid on the pot and leave it for at least half an hour.
- Remove the lid, aluminum foil and water then wash the pot like you normally would.
- Repeat as many times as necessary.
TIPS
- The baking soda and salt will bubble up so add it slowly so you don't have an accidental volcano situation.
- Don't use metal spoons or bowls. It'll affect the reaction.
- To make sure the entire inside of the pot gets lean, top the water level up so it comes right to the rim of the pot. Don't bother boiling this water, just use hot out of the tap.
This isn't going to make a really discoloured pot look new. Unless you do it 30 billion times.
But it'll make it better.
When you remove the aluminum foil it'll be black from attracting the black staining. The foil was every bit as black on the last attempt as on the first!
For me, repeating as many times as necessary meant doing this 6 times. I did it twice and thought, that's good enough. Then I'd look at it and think, well maybe just one more time. And repeat until I ran out of non-iodized salt.
The non-iodized salt is important. I tested the method with regular salt and it did not work at all. I folded my aluminum foil so the shiny wide was out but I really don't think it would make any difference.
How does this work?
Kind of like a magnet. The aluminum foil attracts the tarnish from the tin.
It's possible that it's a little more scientific than that, but that's the gist of it.
Why you really shouldn't do this.
As the tin in your copper pots darkens, oxidizes and stains it's actually IMPROVING. It won't stain as easily, becomes harder and retains heat better. All good things. Letting the tin in your copper age over time is the best thing you can do for your pot.
So why did I do clean my tin?
I did it because the pan was really stained dark and I was a bit worried about it transferring a weird taste to any food I cooked in it later. This, I will admit, is probably a completely unreasonable fear.
But there you have it, I'm not one to be entirely reasonable all the time. (please refer back to leaving my dinner in a pot on the stove for 4 days for further evidence of this)
Works great Thank You!!
I'm lucky enough to have a full set of copper & tin pans/frying pans/gratin pans & large fish kettle. I'm also fortunate enough to have a couple of silver lined copper pans & they are even better to cook in, for sauce work nothing is better. I only use wood or silicone utensils in them & I'm very OCD about never leaving food in them, I also wash & dry them immediately after use. I have put little pet/dog tags onto the handles of the silver lined ones so that if anyone is helping me in the kitchen, (rare) they know to take special care.It also means that when I pass whomever inherits them can easily tell them apart. The tags are marked "Cu/Ag"
Salt, flour & lemon juice works well when the copper gets a clean before Christmas... Nothing is more festive than the range arrayed with gleaming copper pots bubbling away for me.
I also made a nice pot hanging rack out of old copper water pipes & fittings. They look great suspended from this when not in use.
Nice website, makes excellent reading.
Thanks James! I'd love to hang my copper but alas ... I barely have room to hang a hat in my kitchen. ` karen!
Hi, i have a tin-lined big ol, copper pan- also left-overs, overnight in fridge, then straight back to stove next day, situation, for about three years- now it's green, and the food is green- toxic? what to do? thank you!
Late addition to an old thread, but just FYI the process you are presenting is also how old silver can be cleaned, though we put it into the water whle it was still boiling. For a while in the 1990s someone was selling aluminum discs you put in the bottom of the pot. Allegedly they kept cleaning even after they were colorized.
HI C.A.M., yes!! I have a post about that somewhere on here, lol. Although I have to say I never had great luck with it on silver, it seems better with this tin. ~ karen!
I bought a set of copper pots and pans from Crate and Barrel about 43 years ago. I have never cooked in them but they seem all tarnished inside. I would like to think I could use them but am afraid because it looks like everything will stick to the bottom of the pans. I also have mixing bowls but I’ve never used them because I think what I make will taste like metal! They are stamped ‘made in France’. Because of their age are they most likely to be tin lined?
Hi Lynn! my name is Sam. I'm currently a college graduate trying to get into medical / PA school, and I'm also trying to build up my first collection of quality pans by buying copper and carbon steel pans, etc! I know this is almost 2 years after your initial comment, but may I please ask:
Do you still happen to have / not want these pans?!
If you're finally using them, that's great too!
Otherwise, I would possibly be interested in them if I knew a few more details about them...!
May I please ask: What kind of handle do they have (cast iron, brass?) and what types of pans are they (fry, sauce pan?).
Happy (almost) Thanksgiving, and Thanks in advance for possibly responding. -Sam
Traditionally in France where we live, plain copper pots are used for making preserves, conserves, fridge jam and chutneys. Plain copper pots are used for sugar work and melting chocolate. Unlined copper pots are also used in making beer. A good 'cul de poule' - a plain copper bowl is used for whisking egg whites, they turn out fluffier as they react with the copper. Lined copper pots and pans are used for everything else, boiling vegetables and cooking meat for instance. I hope this helps ! Best Fidelma
I have some old copper pots that need re-tinning. Does anyone know how to go about getting that done?
Uch. Your best bet is to ask around locally. There are very few people who do it anymore but they do exist. Some larger companies will retin for you but you have to ship your pots to them which as you can imagine is quite expensive. For the past decade I've been promising myself I'd find someone to teach me how to do it on my own. ~ karen!
Thanks, Karen. If I learn anything helpful I'll let you know.
PeggyMN
hammersmith cookware will retin your copper
Google “East Coast Tinning”. I have a large pot like hers. I just found it at a Goodwill store. Whatever is staining it is not black stuff. I’ve soaked it and scrubbed it. Now I’m going to try the foil and baking soda trick... maybe tomorrow.
Hi! the copper pot in the picture at the top of this page is the exact pot I have and am concerned about! it doesn't have a brand marking on it... do you know who makes it and if it is lined with tin or something else?
Thanks!
I have the same one too. It is labeled. It says Baumalu made in France faintly stamped into the side just right of the handle near the rim. From my research it’s fun lined.
hammersmith cookware will retin
I have the same one too. It’s labeled. It says Baumalu made in France stamped faintly just to the right of the handle near the rim. From my research, it is tin lined.
I think if it's Baumalu it will be aluminum lined. Baumalu patented the process for binding a thin sheet of aluminum to a thicker sheet of copper; they then stamped cookware from these combined sheets. Aluminum lined copperware has the advantage of not having to be retinned ever, but the disadvantage of not being able to be retinned; if the aluminum lining wears out, or if the pan gets too hot and the binding between the aluminum and copper gives way, you have to throw away the whole pan. Tin-lined copper, while more fragile, can nevertheless last for generations because an old pan can always be retinned. (And while it's being retinned, the rivets holding the handled on can be tightened and the copper polished up--so the pan comes back really looking like new.)
Hi — James says Baumalu pots are aluminum-lined. I believe this is incorrect. I have 15 of these and I’m certain they are tin-lined. I have also had several of them relined at East Coast Tinning in Rhode Island. Jim there does a great job and his shop is a wonder.
I am very grateful for your post and the pictures you included. For reasons that are too sad to mention, I purchased a lovely home in California that came with a beautiful set of copper cookware. I was scared to death to use any of the pans because the insides looked splotchy. Little by little I started using them and decided that if they were toxic, I would be the only victim, so what the heck. (I actually didn’t say heck.)
So now, because you showed the insides of your pans, and mine look pretty similar, I’m cooking in all the beautiful pans I inherited!
Hello Karen,
We had issue on our older William Sonoma copper pot. It was preowned and bought it that way. I came to find out that cooking on copper is phenomenal, however, the interior lining was stained, and tarnished. So I Googled "how to clean copper pot interior" and found your site. I followed the whole shebang and alas the grime, and stain are gone. Thank you kindly for that tip. I can testify that it is really true.
Sincerely,
Raqüel
Thanks so much for letting me know! I'm glad it worked well for you. :) Isn't copper great?!! ~ karen!
I didn't read all the comments, Karen, so maybe you answered this already. If not, will you give a tutorial or tell me how to know real copper-tin lined pots? I have the chance to get a whole box full of pots and pans from a junk removal guy who knows nothing about them. One pot was priced 20 bucks from an old garage sale, so based on that he said I could have the box for 100, since there were abt. 12 pans. I got him down to 80 when I told him I'm buying them for a historical society. No, no one in the group knows how to tell real copper either! Thanks for your help. ~gloria
Hi Gloria. It isn't foolproof, but copper cookware isn't magnetic. If you put a magnet up to it, it won't stick. Also, there are varying degrees of how good a copper pot is. Even if it's copper it doesn't necessarily mean it's a good pot. Look for thickness. If a pan is heavy it's a good copper pot. The walls of the pot will be quite thick. You can also look for "Made in France" stamped on it. That'll be a good copper pot. But the lightweight ones? They're only worth about $10 each. ~ karen!
Hello all. I love your posts Karen, and all the comments of the lovely people too. I have a German silver pot that becomes black like that when I cook some items ( I forgot what). I accidentally hit on a remedy. Cook some spinach in the pot. Just boil with some water. Became sparkling clean like new. Might work on tin. I don’t have any tin pots or I would try it out. Maybe one of you lovely ladies can give it a go and test it out . 🙂
I really really want you to do a test to see whether doing that same process to a clean (preferably brand new) pot will stain the aluminium foil black too.
I just have to see these things with my own eyes to believe them and I don't have any tin lined pots of my own.
If anyone else does it, please please appease my curiosity by posting about it.
Thanks
I have no copper pots lined with tin so I don't give a rat's ass about cleaning them. However, I loved that recipe for penne with rapini n and sausage. I copied it immediately and plan to make it this weekend. I also love you meatballs and spaghetti recipe.
Thanks,
Janet
Thanks Janet! And I think you'll really love the penne. It's one of my favourites. ~ karen!
I don’t really understand the allure of copper cookware with tin lining.
The allure for me is that cooking in copper is very forgiving. You can leave something on the heat for too long and it won’t be burnt. I guess it’s because the heat distribution properties of copper are so good. It’s really hard to burn something if you’re cooking it in a copper pot.