Can you taste dish soap on your dishes?

Question

I have trouble finding a dish soap that I can tolerate. Most are so strongly perfumed that the taste never comes off the dishes - especially water glasses.

Can you taste dish soap, too? If so, please help me find a dishwasher detergent that isn't perfumed. I'm about to get a dishwasher (never had one before), and I'm dreading the search for a non-perfumed detergent.

I'm still cringing from when I tried Dawn's "new scent" dish soap. I swear I could still taste it on my water glasses months later. (I exaggerate - luckily, I've learned that vinegar helps to remove the scent.) I now use Seventh Generation dish soap, which is truely unscented.

Does Seventh Generation make a dishwasher detergent? Is it unperfumed? Does it lkinda work? I'm less picky about cleaning power than I am about obnoxious perfumes....

Help me, please!

Anne

Answer

I would be worried that there was still soap residue on the dishes, more than just the smell. I do like to get lemon scented, at least it smells like food! But I only have that problem when handwashing, mainly tall glasses that I don't get down to the bottom, and I've been using a long handled sponge to solve that problem.

Answer

can't say I have ever tasted dishwasher soap on my dishes.
You might want to try running the dishwasher without any soap - I always rinse / wash before it goes in the dishwasher -- old habit.
Dunno if it would be enough, but the water is darn hot. 
Also, once the wash is done, open it up to let everything dry before putting it away.

ps- I know a bit of what you mean about the taste of soap though, I never use it to soak my Reidel as I swear it does get absorbed in those glasses.

Answer

You may also be using too much soap. The new dishwasher detergents are so strong that you need much less than the dispenser cup in the dishwasher says. Try using 1/3 less, or even 1/2 and see if your dishes are clean and they don't have the scent.

Also newer dishwashers are much more efficient than ones more than 10 years old and they clean without needing as much soap.

If you have a very old one, let's say 15-20, it may not be working all that well, even if the dishes are clean looking, and it may not be rinsing off the soap.

Personally I have never smelled dishwasher soap on my glasses and dishes. Maybe your rinse cycle doesn't work properly. How old is your dishwasher?

Answer

oh my god I taste soap all the time in restaurants. Especially on wine glasses, I was beginning to think I was crazy.

Answer

I'm glad you post about this. I'm not sure if the industry has just been bad about using certain chemicals in the last 10 years, or if I've just become more sensitive to it over the years, but now stuff like Ivory, Palm Olive, Joy...all make my stomach turn by smelling it. Never mind about washing it off of the dishes, or my hands. I remember when they had "Ocean Breeze" scented Joy dishwashing detergent....That was my last bottle of Joy, ever - unused. None of the other brands were any better off. 

Very bad for fine tea tasting. "..Would you like that delicate High Mountain Tea with Ivory scent or Palm Olive? .." No thanks. 

Some of the better brands are lightly scented, but they wash off easily: Seventh Generation, Trader Joes, Ecover ...etc. It's not just whether it's scented or not, but also whether it's petroleum-based surfacant or not. The ones that don't leave a residue,...they don't cost that much more. I find I can do dishes much more quickly because they rinse off quickly. Most of all I can taste my drinks and my food as they are. 

Definitely, you WERE tasting soap. And you shouldn't have to.

Answer

In Anne's original question, and a lot of the replies including my own, people are referring to the taste of dishwashing soap from dishes that have been handwashed. But, I don't see that anyone has had a problem with tasting the soap from dishes washed in the dishwasher. Is there anyone who has a dishwasher--especially a modern, new one--who has an issue with the soap taste?

~TDQ

Answer

Do you store your glassware bowl up or bowl down in your cupboard? 
Any gases or odors will settle onto the glass surface if you store them bowl down. 
Let them breathe.

Answer

I stopped using ceramic coffee mugs because something always tastes bad, no matter who they belong to. I smell it when my nose is in the cup.

So I use plastic and metal starbuck's thermos-mugs, and disposable stirofoam ones (I'm sorry to the environment).

I don't know what it is about the ceramic mugs. Go figure!

Answer

Do you guys think the rinsing aids like Jet Dry help?

Answer

I read recently that you should never use lemon scented dishsoap. It keeps the lemony smell on the clean dishes.
I use Jet Dry, but I still have that smell.
Do all of you have BOSCH dishwashers, I got mine about a yr ago. I never had this with my 2 previous GE dishwashers.

Answer

I don't have a dishwasher... I wash the dishes in the 'extra-gentle' palmolive because most detergents break me out in a rash, and I rinse the dishes under running water to make sure that they don't have any orangey residue on them.

Answer

Using any dishwasher detergent is not good, so I understand. Even if it can't be tasted, the way they are made nowadays makes it nearly impossible to remove completely, even after multiple rinsing. What I do is make a 1/2 & 1/2 dry mix of borax and baking soda. In the machine, I put in this mix but not more than 1/2 way filled. I then add a bit of dishwashing soap mixed with water and spray it on the dishes & silverware. This seems to work very well - the dishes are clean with NO residue from chemicals. Keeping a container on hand with the dry mix helps and a spray bottle with the watered-down soap is easy. I hope this works for you. And thanks for the tip on Seventh Generation!

Answer

well, Im obviously in a whole different catergory than everyone else. I keep a bottle of original blue Dawn in my laundry room. It goes on every single grease, grass, sauce, wine, whatever stain that I have. I have never lost an article of clothing yet from the Dawn pre-treat. I rarely ever wash dishes...never ever silverware. If and when I wash a pot or large pyrex bowl, I use Dawn with Odor Remover. My dishwasher is linked directly to my garbage disposal (ahahahahaha!) so I don't have to wash dishes before I put them in a dishwasher. I use the Jet-Dry powerball tabs and if I really have alot of crap stuffed in there, I toss in 2 just for kicks. My hot water heater is pretty much set on "scald" and I use heavy duty rubber gloves and straight hot water when I am reduced to washing dishes.

Answer

hi, with regards to your dishwasher i have just found out something about mine, i have, like most people have had a dishwasher for many years and found it to be the best thing i could of spent my money on. but last october i started to feel ill for no reason, dizzy feeling sick, i went the hospital and over the past 10 months i have had evry test under the sun and they have found nothing wrong with me. tonight i was just thinking that while i was away on holiday for a week i was fine and healthy and i think that is because i was washing dishes by hand. i have notice only this week after looking more closely at the glasses and dishes etc there is a white residue on them, i have a top named ddishwasher and i only use the best powder and rinse aid and i believe that the machine is leaving residue on my cups and plates and i am getting this into my body through using the plates etc so now i am going back to handwashing. if i am ok the machine will be binned even though i paid £395 for it last year,

Answer

Liquid dish detergent is usually very concentrated and takes lots of hot water to rinse off, especially if squeezed on your dishes during handwashing (never put in dishwasher). Try filling a large pot or plastic tub in the sink and dissolving the soap in that water rather than squeezing directly on the dish or glass. That's how people used to wash dishes long before dishwashers. If you squeeze soap on a sponge, dilute with water before scrubbing the dish. If none of these work, you are just using too much soap and not enough hot water to wash and rinse. You might give the foamy soap cleaners a try, as they dissolve faster.

Answer

My mil used Dawn - hate it, smell and all! I use Joy and dilute it in the bottle by 2/3's. All liquid dish detergents now seem to be WAAAAY too concentrated.

Answer

I have never owned a dishwasher and I never will, before you load the dishes in the dishwasher, you have to ususally rinse the dishes first anyway, by the time you load the dish washer, you could have a sink full of dishes washed already.

My dish washer is my hands

Answer

Scent? No, what you're tasting is residue. Are you aware that these new dishwashers that are supposed to be so wonderful with energy only give two finishing rinses? Sometimes they only give one. As if that's enough? Many of the old ones use to give a minimum of three with an option of 4

Dawn hand dishwashing liquid is notoriously difficult to rinse off. So rinse thoroughly is the order of the day here

Answer

I detest fragrance added to any product. But i want clean dishes. My current dishwasher detergent is cascade complete (fresh scent). It washes the dishes very well, but the fragrance overwhelms me when i open the door. To be fair, The actual dishes do not retain the fragrance, except plastic, which does.

I called the 1-800 number on the package, most products have this on the label somewhere. The rep. Was very nice, If anything I will get a coupon for a free product.

My message is. If we all did this, maybe the manufacturers would listen and stop adding fragrance.

Help me get the message across, please.

Answer

I have had this problem. One dishwasher detergent I have found that I like is Method Smarty Dish pods, I only buy the free and clear unscented ones. This does not leave a taste or smell to me.

For handwashing I use 7th generation unscented.

Answer

I always add white vinegar as a rinse, both in handwashing and in the DW.

No soap taste for me, although I realize others may be more sensitive.

Answer

I have the same problem! I'm going to look for the soap your talking about!

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Can you taste dish soap on your dishes?

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