So, got this silicon bakingmat and its amazing - does the job well. However its well used and I'd like to see it better cleaned than its current state, e.g. not brown. Tried the washing machine and manual cleaning with different sops and brushes. Is there a secret sauce to clean this kinda mat?
Appriciate any tips or recommendations.
Disclaimer: am a scientist and not a silicone mat expert. Advice offered us based on chemistry knowledge. Take it or leave it.
From first principles: your baking mat is probably made from polydimethylsiloxane with fibreglass reinforcement. Both of these things will be almost entirely chemically inert versus any cleaning solutions you likely have access to. So you can more or less throw anything at it provided you aren't worried about ingesting the cleaning agent.
The staining will largely be carbon or similar that is stuck in between the polymer structures. Basicly, food particles that worked their way in and then got very very hot, driving off everything except the carbon. What's left is effectively charcoal or graphite. Removing carbon is damned near impossible. It doesn't melt. And the chemicals you'd need to apply to attack it would likely also attack your mat.
Effectively, your mat has been tattood with soot. Congrats.
If you want to make sure there aren't other reactive things in the mat, leave your mat in the oven at a temperature just above whatever you expect your maximum cooking temperature will be. For example, if you never cook above 425, put the mat in at 450 for a while. That'll drive off all of the remaining volatiles from old food and convert what remains to carbon. The staining will remain but it'll be safe enough.
Don't put it in the oven on super high temperatures though (like self-cleaning ovens or something) as you risk vitrification (turning the mat into glass).
Trivia: polydimethylsiloxane is the same chemical used in condom lubricant, usually...
E: phone keyboard typos
very interesting reply thanks for the deets on this had no idea!