How to Clean Silicone Kitchen Utensils and More

Silicone is nonporous, at least on a larger scale. It’s what makes it a great option for baby dishes and food storage bags: It’s not going to leak strawberry banana purée or peanut butter and jelly all over the place. But that nonporousness isn’t absolute. 

“Absorption occurs because some grades of silicone have a more porous surface at a microscopic level,” says Suze Dowling, co-founder and chief business officer of the home products portfolio Pattern Brands. “These pores can trap particles from oil residue and strongly scented soaps, leading to residual tastes and smells. Most often, if you experience a change in food taste, it is because your silicone product has built up oil residue.” 

Higher-quality silicone is less likely to take on flavors, according to Dowling. This type of silicone typically uses platinum to cure—or, in layman’s terms, to harden it in a desired shape—the silicone. It can be more expensive to manufacture (no surprise, considering it literally uses platinum in its production process) and, in the U.S., adheres to standards set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for all medical devices. This type of silicone is sometimes used in medical devices, like menstrual cups, prosthetics, and feeding tubes. 

Standard “food-grade” silicone is regulated by the FDA and considered safe for, you guessed it, contact with food, but not necessarily for medical products. This silicone uses peroxide, rather than platinum, to cure it, and may take on more flavors—such as the soap flavor I’m detecting on my egg spatula—than silicone that’s cured with platinum.

But even if platinum-cured silicone is less likely to take on a soapy stench, it’s not an impossibility, says Dowling. “Unfortunately, there is no way to fully prevent [silicone] from taking on flavors or smells,” says Veronica Santoso, a product manager at Oxo.