The toaster isn't something we always remember to clean, but we recently came across a bit of toaster cleaning advice from the 1927 Butterick Book of Recipes and Household Helps and decided to do some more research on the subject.
• First of all, make sure the toaster is unplugged and completely cool before you clean it. Work over the sink, trash can, or newspaper-covered table.
• Did you know that most toasters have a removable tray or hatch at the bottom? I must admit that I didn't. All these years, I had been turning the toaster upside down to shake the crumbs out, not realizing that there was a more thorough way to clean it. (If your toaster does not have a tray, upside-down shaking will certainly do the trick.)
• In addition to gentle shaking, the Butterick Book recommends using a small pastry brush to "reach the most difficult corners of an electric toaster and brush out the most elusive crumbs." We gave it a try and it's satisfyingly effective.
• If the tray is crusted with crumbs, remove and wash it with warm soapy water. Dry before reassembling.
• To clean the exterior of the toaster, use a soft, damp cloth and gentle soap if necessary. Vinegar works well to clean smudges on stainless steel toasters.
From now on, we're making a more conscious effort to clean to the toaster on a regular basis. It takes only a couple of minutes and preventing crumbs from accumulating helps keep the toaster in good working order.
Republished from article originally posted January 21, 2009.
Related: Survey: How Do You Clean Your Oven?
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Noooo! Never submerge electrical equipment in water! Fine for the non-electrical parts (for example, the pitcher of a blender but not the base). Unseen droplets of water on the inside electric parts of a toaster can cause it to short out and possibly cause a fire. Please don't do it.
humbling moment...
so i re-read the post and the advice was to wash the crumb *tray* in warm soapy water. that's ok.
...and if something gets stuck in a particularly tricky spot, take it outside and plug it in and let it burn itself out.
Pastry brush - smart!
I'm going to try to teach my roommate this. So far, her policy is to jiggle crumbs across the counter, the floor, and into the cabinet where we store the toaster.
I think this is my all time worst cleaning job, it's a thankless task that needs doing over and over and drives me mad.. I use baking powder (surprise surprise) on those burnt bits that a tough to get off, otherwise the same. Am surprised they had toasters in the twenties-none of my family owned one until the mid-nineties!
Never thought of the pastry brush...i usually shake the living daylights out of the damn thing and then just conceede that there are always going to be bits stuck in there. ha. Will give it a try. Oh and I only JUST bought a toaster with a removable tray - that thing makes me oh so happy!
saer
http://cravenmaven.wordpress.com
To the person with messy roommate:
A nice flea market tray (wood, bamboo, metal) that fits the footprint of the toast will at least capture stray crumbs. Think of it as the exterior version of the built-in crumb tray.
Cheers,
I clean our toaster with the vacuum cleaner! I put the narrow attachment on the end of the hose and unplug the toaster. I shake out the crumbs as described above, then immediately suck them up from the counter. I gently run the nozzle along the top edge and the bottom. I find that it works well because if the crumbs are loose, it doesn't take much for them to be lifted away. I definitely don't put the vacuum *in* the toaster or allow it to touch the coils (I don't think it would fit). It's very satisfying to watch all that debris zip away. Since the vacuum parts cover a lot of ground, I finish up by wiping everything down with a cleaning cloth. (Using sanitizing cleaner on the vacuum before starting would work too.)
Baking soda, used on a barely damp cloth, will shine your chrome toaster (and anything else chrome) back to showroom bright with ease. Good for that sticky residue which seems impervious to other approaches. It is slightly abrasive; but is an almost instant shine.