Kashering China Dishes
Question
We have a chance to acquire a china dinner set from someone who didn’t keep kosher. If the set hasn’t been used for a long time can it be koshered? If yes, what is the time that it has to have been not used? Thank you.
Answer
Shalom!
Thank you for your question.
As you know, utensils that were used for non-kosher food become non-kosher as the taste of the non-kosher foods gets absorbed not the utensil. In most cases, utensils can be purged of this absorbed non-kosher taste by a process known as “kasheirng” which can be done by immersing the utensils in boiling water or blowtorching them.
The source for kasheirng dishes originated in the Torah where we read about the battles against the Midianites. (Numbers 31). Among the spoils of war that the Jewish people captured were utensils, which, of course, were non-kosher. So Elazar teaches the Jewish people the laws of koshering vessels by boiling water or fire/blowtorch.
Earthenware dishes, however, cannot be koshered. This is mentioned in the Torah. (Leviticus 6:21).
China dishes are made from clay just like earthenware dishes and are therefore in the same category, and therefore, they too, cannot be koshered.