Learn With Me: How To Rid Your Kitchen From Burnt Smells!

I can't be the only person who's ever burned something in the kitchen?!  However, recently was the only time I ever thought to take a stand on it and not let the odors overpower me! 


Therefore, I give you my third installment of "Learn With Me".  These are segments where I share tips that have helped me around the culinary table.






When I created my "I Love You Candy Bars" over the weekend, I made the mistake of microwaving the chocolate for a little bit longer than I intended.  The end result was a big chunk of burnt chocolate.  It looked like this:




Anyone for burnt chocolate?  Yeah.... I didn't think so!




The awful smell was immediate!  The odor followed you ALL over the house, no matter what room you entered.  It quickly began making me bonkers!   Instead of opening up the windows and turning on extra fans, I did several online searches on how I can remove the odor in a more natural fashion. 


Here are some suggestions that I discovered:


(1) Place vinegar and water together in bowls all over the kitchen and even in the microwave if the burnt episode happened there.  You can leave them out for several hours or even overnight!




(2) Lemon juice and water mixed together can also work, if you don't have vinegar on hand (or if you're just not a fan of the smell!)


(3) Several folks recommend just placing water with some cinnamon mixed in.  Cinnamon is a strong spice that can quickly overtake a room but in a good way!





(4) Put vanilla extract (or other extracts like lemon, almond, peppermint, etc.) on cotton balls and leave them out throughout the kitchen.


Or if you do NOT have cotton balls on hand (like I didn't) find something else that can absorb liquid just as well, like a maxi pad from your bathroom drawer:



Oh yes, I am serious!  I really did grab an un-used sanitary napkin to set it on display in my kitchen to absorb the burnt chocolate smell!  I figured that looking at a feminine product was still better than inhaling smoke-like fumes!

Yes I am crazy!  But wait, it gets better! 

This above photo is the second maxi pad I used.  For the first one, I poured vanilla extract over it.  So it looked like brown liquid was running off the sanitary napkin.  So yeah.... I didn't want to leave that out for several hours for my husband and any neighbors to see.  I threw that one away and pulled out another one to use.  This time I used my clear peppermint extract which left no "residue" on it making it much more pleasing to see..... well, as pleasing as a maxi pad can be sitting there in the middle of a kitchen counter I suppose.

Hey, whatever it takes right!  I tried all the above four suggestions on how to rid my kitchen of a burnt smell.  And I must be honest.... they all worked!  I used a combination of them all and left them out for 6-7 hours.  I even left the house to bring my daughter to the park.  When I walked back into my home, I never knew that I had burned anything! 

So I just had to share these tips and my experiences with you!  I hope you enjoyed them.  At the very least, I bet I gave you a chuckle or a head shake for the day!  :-)


I will try to be back here on Sunday but we'll be traveling so I'm not sure if it will happen like I want.  Therefore I may be late in posting my meal plan for next week.  I can tell you that it's going to be eating from the freezer for the first few days and then trying one or two new recipes at the end of the week.  So, have a great weekend everyone!