Baking Soda Around the House: Twelve Jobs It Does Well, Four It Doesn't, and the Claims to Ignore

The household case for baking soda is strong, cheap and — unlike most of the internet's claims about it — carries no health risk whatsoever. It is also routinely overstated, usually by people demonstrating a chemical reaction that looks impressive and accomplishes nothing.

Twelve jobs it genuinely does

1. Scouring pans, sinks and hobs. A mild abrasive that cuts baked-on residue without scratching stainless steel, enamel or glass. Damp paste, a few minutes, a cloth.
2. Deodorising the fridge. Modest but real — bicarbonate neutralises volatile acidic odour compounds rather than masking them. An open box, replaced every few months.
3. Deodorising bins, shoes and gym bags. Same mechanism, more dramatic results, because the smells in question are largely acidic.
4. Carpets and upholstery. Sprinkle, leave 15 minutes or overnight, vacuum thoroughly.
5. Boosting laundry detergent. Raising wash-water alkalinity helps surfactants work, particularly in hard water. A small addition, not a detergent replacement.
6. Cleaning the oven. A thick paste left overnight softens carbonised grease so it lifts with a scraper — the safest oven-cleaning method there is, and the slowest.
7. Descaling and deodorising the dishwasher and washing machine drum.
8. Cleaning stained mugs and teapots. Bicarbonate paste removes tannin stains that detergent leaves behind.
9. Grease fires. Baking soda smothers a small pan fire by releasing carbon dioxide — which is why it belongs within reach of a hob. Never use water on burning oil. For anything beyond a small contained fire, get out and call the fire service.
10. Cleaning silver. A genuine electrochemical reaction: line a bowl with aluminium foil, hot water, bicarbonate, and the tarnish transfers to the foil. This one is real chemistry, not folklore.
11. Neutralising acid spills — a car battery, spilled vinegar, a solvent with an acidic smell. Fizzing stops when the acid is neutralised, which makes it self-indicating.
12. Softening dried beans and tenderising — a pinch raises pH and speeds the breakdown of pectin. Cooks use it deliberately; too much makes things soapy and grey.

Four jobs it does badly

• Baking soda plus vinegar as a cleaner. The famous volcano is an acid and a base neutralising each other. What you are left with is dilute sodium acetate and water — weaker than either ingredient alone. Impressive, useless. Use them separately.
• Unblocking drains. Same problem. The fizz is not mechanically clearing anything. Very hot water, a plunger, or a drain snake will do more.
• Whitening laundry. It deodorises and softens water. It is not a bleach and will not brighten greying whites.
• Disinfecting. This is the important one. Baking soda is not a disinfectant and does not kill pathogens to any standard that matters. For food-safety surfaces, use an actual disinfectant.

Where not to use it

Aluminium cookware (it discolours), sealed natural stone and marble (the abrasive dulls the polish), antique or plated silver with intentional oxidised detail, and delicate glossy surfaces. And never mix it into a container with bleach or ammonia products — mixing cleaning chemicals is how people end up in emergency departments.

The health claims to ignore

We publish a magazine, not a marketplace, so we will be blunt about the ones that circulate hardest.

The reasonable position

Keep a box for the kitchen and a box for cleaning. It is one of the best value products in any shop for what it actually does. Everything it actually does is in the list above, and none of it requires you to swallow any.