The fishy smell has one unpleasant feature - it is deeply absorbed into almost all surfaces. It is not always possible to remove it with a simple rinse with water.
For this reason, many housewives refuse such a useful product, which is not worth doing. Read the article on how to completely remove fish smell from clothes, dishes, refrigerators and more.
How to remove from different surfaces?
The fish permeates with its aroma all surfaces with which it comes into contact . The smell is absorbed into things, into hands, into pots and pans. You can get rid of it using simple improvised means that are found in every home.
From clothes
In order for clothes to stop smelling like fish, they need to be washed, but not in the usual way, but with pre-soaking. The most effective solutions:
vinegar - 5 liters of water will require 5 tablespoons of essence, clothing exposure time - 30 minutes;- saline solution - for each liter of water take a tablespoon of salt so that it dissolves well, the water should be warm, things should be soaked for an hour;
- laundry soap - for ease of use, grate it, in this form it will dissolve well in water, and soak clothes in the prepared solution for an hour.
After soaking, items are washed as usual, using powder and conditioner. After processing, it is advisable to hang them in fresh air to dry and ventilate.
If the smell appears on things as a result of fish juice getting on them, then when washing it is recommended to add 100 g of baking soda to the powder . It can be poured into a machine or into a basin.
This video will show you how to remove fish smell from clothes and fabrics:
From the dishes
During frying and other methods of cooking fish, the dishes absorb its smell. Often it remains on it even after washing with liquid detergent. In this case, the following substances come to the rescue:
- Salt. If you want to remove the smell from metal utensils, then first you need to wash it as usual and dry it. Then sprinkle the bottom with a 1 cm thick layer of soda and place the container on the fire. When the cookware is hot, turn off the burner. After cooling, pour the salt and wash the frying pan, saucepan or cauldron as usual.
- Dry mustard . It can be used not only for metal, but also for plastic utensils, as well as plates, forks, etc. The powder is dissolved in warm water and all kitchen utensils that need to be treated are soaked in it. The holding time is 30 minutes, after which the dishes must be washed using detergent.
- Soda. First, you need to wash the dishes, after which baking soda is poured onto a damp surface and left for an hour.
To reduce the fishy smell from being absorbed into the cutting board, it is recommended to cook it on glass surfaces.
From the pan
When boiling the product in a saucepan, it is better to use enamel cookware. The following tips will help eliminate the smell:
treatment with soda and vinegar - after washing the pan, pour soda into it, which must be distributed over all the walls, using a sponge soaked in vinegar, extinguish the soda, when the reaction is complete, wash the pan with clean water;- cloves or cinnamon - you need to wash the pan, fill it with clean water, add aromatic spices of your choice, boil the water for at least 5 minutes, this method is good because it allows you to aromatize the air in the room;
- toothpaste - it perfectly neutralizes the fishy smell, squeeze a small amount of it onto a sponge, which is used to wash the pan, all that remains is to rinse it with clean water and ventilate without a lid for 2-3 hours.
You need to wash the pan in cool water. The higher the temperature, the deeper the smell will be absorbed into the walls of the dish.
How to remove fishy smell from a car?
A cabin saturated with a fishy smell will arouse hostility not only among the driver, but also among passengers. You can get rid of it by the following means:
- Activated carbon . It needs to be crushed into powder and generously sprinkled on the place where the fish was transported. After a day, the coal is removed and the interior is washed using shampoo.
- Hydrogen peroxide . It should be poured into a spray bottle and used to treat the entire interior. After 12 hours it is washed in the usual way.
- Chlorhexidine . This antiseptic destroys bacteria that lead to a strong odor. It is used in a similar way to hydrogen peroxide. The area needs to be watered abundantly. Leave the composition on the surface for at least 6 hours.
After treating the car interior, it must be thoroughly ventilated, leaving the windows and doors open.
From hand
It is not enough to simply wash hands that smell like fish with soap; they will require additional treatment. For this purpose, the following means are used:
- a slice of lemon - rub the skin of your hands with it after washing;
- light beer - soak a cotton swab in it and use it to clean your hands;
- hydrogen peroxide - apply it to a cotton pad and wipe your fingers and palms with it;
- laundry soap - it has a strong aroma that can displace pungent odors.
In order not to have to worry about removing fishy smell from the skin of your hands, you need to wear thick rubber gloves when cutting the product.
From furniture and carpets
A fishy smell that has ingrained itself into a carpet or upholstered furniture is difficult to remove. To achieve the goal, you will have to use “heavy artillery” in the form of the following means:
- Ammonia . Dissolve 1 tablespoon of alcohol and 2 tablespoons of powder in 5 liters of water. Treat the surface with the resulting composition and wait until it dries completely. Then all that remains is to vacuum it and treat it with clean water.
- Hydrogen peroxide . Pour it generously over the stain, leave for 12 hours, after which the procedure is repeated. Then the area needs to be treated with a steam generator or ironed through damp gauze. Peroxide can only be used on light-colored, unpatterned carpets, so as not to cause discoloration.
- Cleaner for carpets and upholstered furniture . Such compositions are sold in stores. One effective remedy is Vanish. It not only eliminates odors, but also cleans the surface being treated. It is applied for 2-3 hours, after which the foam is collected with a vacuum cleaner. The price of such a product is about 300 rubles.
From the refrigerator
You can eliminate the smell of fish from the refrigerator using the following means:
alcohol - to treat the refrigerator, you can use ordinary vodka, soak a sponge with it and wipe all the walls of the refrigerator, after which it must be rinsed with clean water;- coffee - freshly ground natural beans should be poured into a saucer and placed in a clean refrigerator for 2-3 days;
- Potatoes - a vegetable, peeled, cut into slices and placed on shelves; in a couple of days it will absorb foreign odors.
You can use any products only in a clean refrigerator. If fish blood remains on the shelves or on the seal, then any composition will be ineffective.
Effective ways to remove fish odor from clothes
Fish, thanks to its taste and nutritional properties, takes its rightful place on the everyday, holiday or dietary table. The product has the disadvantage of a difficult-to-remove odor that can penetrate and eat into any surfaces or textiles.
Professional dry cleaning will easily remove rotten fishy smells from textiles, carpets, car covers, and clothes. The method is not cheap, it takes time, and not everyone has the opportunity to wait several days for an item. The method is easy, gives 100% results without much effort, and is ideal for some. Others can, using available food products and household products, remove the unpleasant smell of fish and its grease stains on their own. Of the minuses: the process will take several hours (less than dry cleaning), but requires some effort on the part of the housewife - manual soaking, rinsing.
In emergency situations, dishwashing liquid, citric acid, laundry soap, ascorbic acid, lemon, bleach, washing powder, stain remover pencil, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, table vinegar will help.
How to get rid of the smell of stale, old fish when cooking?
Ways to get rid of the smell of stale fish when cooking:
- Before you start cooking, the fish must be washed in clean running water and soaked in a saline solution. It will absorb not only the smell, but also destroy some of the microbes that caused its appearance.
- In addition to salt, you can add a small amount of vinegar to the marinade.
- Immediately before cooking, sprinkle the fish with lemon juice.
- Spices and certain foods help reduce unpleasant odor: carrots, onions, parsley.
- Soaking the product in soy sauce helps a lot in the fight against foreign odors.
These methods can be used if the fish has a weak odor. You will have to get rid of the rotten product.
From the refrigerator
In the refrigerator, a possible reason for the appearance of an unpleasant odor, in addition to visible contaminants, can be long-term improper storage of fish. What can be done to fix the problem:
- Defrost the refrigerator and wash it, for example, with a soda solution.
- If the smell remains, prepare a vinegar solution from 5 tbsp. l. vinegar 9% and 500 ml of water, soak a sponge in it and wipe all the inside walls of the refrigerator with it. Then leave the door open to allow the vinegar aroma to dissipate. Then rinse the treated surfaces with clean water and wipe dry.
- You can put flavorings or adsorbents inside the refrigerator: activated carbon (10-20 tablets), pieces of rye bread, citrus peels or freshly ground coffee beans.
How to remove from the apartment during frying, boiling or baking?
Methods for eliminating fishy odor during different types of heat treatment:
if the fish has a pronounced smell, before cooking it must be soaked in brine with the addition of vinegar, pepper and bay leaf;- when frying, the smell will be less intense if, after heating, add a few drops of lemon juice to a frying pan with vegetable oil;
- You can give the fish a “subtle” taste and get rid of the smell if you add a little milk to the broth during cooking;
- so that the fish does not emit a strong smell when baking, it is placed in the oven in foil or in a sleeve - this advice will eliminate the need to wash dishes;
- If you plan to leave the fish head during cooking, then you must remove the gills.
To flavor the room, you need to heat the salt in a frying pan, and then the lemon or orange zest. Coffee beans are used in a similar way. This article will tell you how to remove the smell of river fish before cooking.
Helpful information
Tips to help you effectively get rid of fishy smell:
- You should wash dishes immediately after preparing and cutting fish.
- To remove the smell from a meat grinder or food processor, you need to swirl a few slices of lemon into them.
- Store fish in the refrigerator in airtight packaging.
- To prepare fish, practical housewives have separate dishes and cutting boards.
You will find a lot of useful and important information on how to remove smell from different types of meat and cook it correctly here.
Why does fish smell so bad?
If you've ever fished, you've probably noticed that a freshly caught fish doesn't smell of anything, except perhaps the slight aroma of the pond from which it was taken. But the characteristic amber appears later, when decomposition processes begin to intensify in the carcass. No, this does not mean that the “odor” is evidence of staleness. It’s just that the peculiarity of the tissues of the body of an inhabitant of reservoirs is such that the smell appears almost instantly.
- The proteins in fish differ significantly from the proteins in other fauna. And the main discrepancy is that fish amino acids are subject to degradation to a much greater extent. This means that decay products - ammonia and sulfur - will be formed within a couple of hours after the fish was caught. In addition, those bacteria that inhabit the body of the fish and contribute to the decomposition of proteins are not afraid of the cold, since cool or cold water is familiar to the inhabitant of the deep sea. By the way, due to the resistance of bacteria to cold, it is recommended to store fish at significantly lower temperatures than other types of meat.
- Most fish are predators. They feed on their smaller brothers. They require a special enzyme or enzyme to digest them. Most likely, some of the enzymes remain on the fish’s body after it is caught. This means that the fermets will begin to digest the fish from the outside, thereby causing an unpleasant odor.
- The oxidation of beneficial and important fatty acids contained in fish also causes the appearance of an unpleasant odor.
Fatty acids that are beneficial to human health, when oxidized, cause an unpleasant odor
Smell and type of fish
If you understand the intricacies of the repulsive fish odor, then it must be said that not all types of fish smell the same. Lake and river fish smell differently than sea and ocean fish.
This is interesting. Varieties of fish also do not smell the same. For example, the famous St. Petersburg smelt is characterized by the smell of cucumbers.
Frozen fish has virtually no smell at all until defrosted. But if you decide to fry fish, then not only those who live in the same house with you will know about your idea (and it doesn’t matter at all whether you have a hood or not), but also your neighbors.
But if the fish is rotten, then it’s a real disaster - the disgusting smell seems to permeate everything around.
