How Do You Clean an Olive Oil Bottle?

[Velda Mae]

I got a bottle for olive oil that's particularly nice because it's dark green glass and I like the square shape. I want to clean it and refill it but I can seem to get the residual old oil out and now there are droplets of water in it. I know it needs to be clean so the old oil won't spoil the new oil but what's the best way to do that?

[ThatMary]

For any narrow bottle or vase I use an effervescent denture cleaner (ie Efferdent, only I buy the drugstore brand).

You may want to try vinegar with lots of coarse salt and shake that to use as an abrasive, then use the denture cleaner, letting it sit overnight.

[BiscuitBoy]

Just did this the other day to clean my oo can...soak in hot water and dawn, use a bottle brush if necessary. Follow up with a few tsps of baking soda dissolved in hot water, let soak for about an hour. Rinse, dry, voila

[Velda Mae]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'd already used Dawn twice before I posted my query and still had residual oil and water droplets. I think the vinegar did the trick for the final bit of cleaning and parking the bottle in the oven got rid of the last of the water.

[Nyleve]

I just recently cleaned out an olive oil bottle by adding a couple of drops of gel dishwasher detergent to the bottle, then topped up with very hot water. Shake and let sit for a couple of hours. I did this twice, then rinsed and dried the inside in a warm oven. Done. No grease left - no water droplets either.

[tanuki soup]

You could also pick up a thin bottle brush - handy for cleaning out your turkey baster, too.

[Cherylptw]

I use very hot water and a soap made for grease like Dawn; add the water but leave room at the top and a drop of soap and allow it to sit for five minutes or so. Then shake it up and rinse. I do this a couple of times and then let air dry....always works for me.

[c oliver]

+1. In addition, when I rinse I sit it in the sink and run the hot water into the bottle until all the soap suds have poured out the top and then let it run just a bit longer. I've used the same bottle for years and years and that's how I clean it.

[fauchon]

+2. I add plain white vinegar to the deterg/water mixture. The vinegar seems to help cut thru the oil. Also, I go heavy on the deterg as oil & water don't mix so using water is basically counter-productive.

[alanbarnes]

+3. It may take a few drops of soap, but not much more than that. And if you have hard-to-dislodge bits in the bottle (probably not, since it just held olive oil, but still...) try putting in a tablespoon or two of uncooked rice and shaking vigorously - the rice will act as an abrasive and scrub the inside of the bottle.