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Someone used a solution of bleach and water (probably 1/10 ratio) on my cast iron, they were letting it soak in this solution. When I noticed I immediately rinsed it off multiple times, scrubbed it (but did not strip it) with some soap and hot water.

  1. Is cast iron so porous that the bleach has seeped in? Is it permanently ruined?

  2. Do I re-season as usual or do further steps need to be taken?

AME
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2 Answers2

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@Sneftel's answer is 100% correct.

What I have to add as a chemist:

Bleach is not that dangerous in the first place.

It is corrosive, including to living tissues, but it is not poisonous in the way e.g. mercury or arsenic are.

It may be somewhat out of fashion these days, but it is still the substance they put in the drinking water and it is still the substance in which they immerse the fabrics we will later wear.

It has a smell. The smell is invariably unpleasant and characteristic and signals the chlorine presence long before it becomes dangerous.

If you don't sense the smell, it is safe by a great margin.

It is extremely soluble in water, meaning it is easy to rinse it out without the need of a detergent or mechanical action. It cannot hide in the material's pores the way e.g. oils or powders do.

In short, don't worry and use your pan just like you always did.

terdon
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fraxinus
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  1. Permanently ruining cast iron cannot be done in a short period of time using the equipment/materials that are available in a normal kitchen. Bleach may accelerate the development of surface rust while it's soaking in the bleach solution, but will not otherwise affect the thing. The porosity of cast iron has been greatly exaggerated and can be ignored for practical purposes.
  2. Season as usual.
Sneftel
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