The molasses method

A

AndyK

New member
I have an old 3-legged pot that I wanted to use as my countertop utensil bucket. Oven cleaner took off all the black, but there is still significant surface rust. The molasses method sound like it might be the thing for me to try. The pot will easily sit submerged in a 5-gallon bucket outside.

My question is about the animal-feed molasses. Is that sold as a powder/granule or as a liquid?
 
You want the liquid. The dry is usually packed way more than what you would need and doesn't store well long-term.
 
Well, I finally got around to buying the molasses, a gallon for $9 and change at the feed store. Today, I washed off the temporary coating of mineral oil and started the molasses soak. I'll report my results in a few weeks.
 
Well, a week ago I added a rusty trivet to the bucket. At that time, it didn't look like anything was happening, but we had a return of cold weather that probably slowed the fermentation. I peeked today and it looks like the process is finally starting.
 
Yesterday, I dumped the bucketful of nastyness out and cleaned the pot and trivet off. I had been skeptical, but I was amazed at the results. I had to give the pieces a good scrubbing with dish soap to get the molasses residue off, but they were pretty much cleaned down to bare metal. The old pot had a lot of pitting but there's nothing I could do about that, of course. I heated them dry in the oven then coated them with mineral oil. I parked them back in the oven (turned off) to cool and set. The pot has now replaced an old Tupperware flour cannister as my countertop utensil bucket.
 
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