How to season an old aluminium pan

[faffa_70]

Yay our generous Andie to the rescue again  Always at the ready to share your knowledge and get us out of a quandary!

[obbie]

I have a old pan like yours JD.  Its cast iron.

Robyn

[Katiej]

I have one of those pans too 
Mine is more like Rosie's than JD's (without the gaps)

It belonged to my Auntie.  I have lovely memories of cooking with her when I was a little kid.
I think I'll have to try and find the pan this week and bake some cakes!
(Finding it might be the hard part, as I have a few boxes of old cake pans, plates etc stored away)

I hope Andie's tip works Rosie 

[mab19]

This takes me back to my childhood when we had gem scones for after school snacks.  I have two sets like JD's that belonged to my grandmother and one set like RosieB that belonged to my mother.  None of mine have any black on them even after all these years.

[RosieB]

To remove the discoloration from cast aluminum.

Fill a large pot with enough water to immerse the pan, bring it to a boil.

Add three tablespoons of Cream of Tartar, stir to dissolve.

Place the aluminum pan in the water, boil for 5-10 minutes, you should see it brighten during this process.  It may take a few more minutes if the discoloration is deep.

Rinse and dry well, rub with a generous amount of mineral oil, inside and out, and put it in the oven at a low temp for an hour or so.

Cool, wipe outside surfaces with a lint-free cloth.  Apply more mineral oil to the interior, put back into the oven for an hour at medium heat.  

This is the way my grandmother would get rid of the blackish stain inside aluminum sauce pans and pots after cooking things like tomatoes, or collard greens in them when I was little.   The top inside walls of the pan would be silvery but below that the sides and bottom would look like charcoal but a few minutes of boiling water with Cream of Tartar would bring them back to their original bright color.

Wow.  Thankyou for this wonderful information..
I am not sure about mineral oil tho.  Is that a petrolium product?
I had been washing and using rice bran oil and putting in the oven,  but it continued to have the black appear.
Although it has been less each time thankfully.  I can now pick it up without my fingers turning black.   
This mineral oil may be the magic ingredient?

I didn't want to use it and have black cakes.  Not a great look.

[andiesenji]

Also, Never, never, never put shiny aluminum or cast aluminum in the dishwasher.

The anodized aluminum, such as Calphalon is okay but I generally wash them by hand anyway.

Mineral oil, food grade, is a product of petroleum,  in your country you should be able to find it or food grade paraffin oil at a chemist's shop, often sold for laxative properties. 

The difference is that these oils do not become rancid as vegetable and nut oils do.

[Frozzie]

Andie love your info and tid bits on such an array of topics 😃