Cooking For Engineers

[Disneymom]

Can anyone tell me how to remove the smell of spicey sauce from the lid of a jar? I just put them in the dishwasher and the jar is fine, but the lid still smells like the cajun sauce that was in it. The lid is metal and the soft "ring" on the inside is what still has the smell. I thought about soaking it in vinegar, but then figured it would smell like vinegar afterward. TIA!

[Leonessa]

Lids with those smells don't lose the odor because the gasket is saturated...I recycle the things in the trash. If you're doing home canning you're going to need new lids anyhow to be sure of a good vacuum seal and if you're using them for storage only use the mayo jars or the jam jars...they're easier to clean anyway!

[Guest]

acetone.

hold under a vacuum for a time.... you need to create an environment where the the vapor pressure just outside that gasket, is lower than the vapor pressure of the smelly stuff. Ie, speed up the evaporatiion