Question
Shalom Kvod HaRav,
Is there an issue in regards to kashering a microwave that has a ceramic coating on the interior walls? If I’m not mistaken ceramic is usually not something that can be kashered, isn’t it? I saw a microwave - samsung ME8123ST which says that it has Ceramic Enamel ( אמייל קרמי) on the interior walls. Would that be okay to kasher like any other microwave, or not?
Thank you.
Answer
Shalom,
Because microwaves are a new invention, there is not a complete agreement among the Rabbis about exactly how to kosher them. In the work "Halachos of Pesach" by Rav Shimon Eider of Lakewood, (volume 1, page 182) he writes "This [way of koshering microwaves with boiling water] applies to [microwave] ovens lined with stainless steel. It is questionable whether those [microwaves] which are lined with plastic, porcelain or enamel can be koshered for Pesach". This would be true of ceramic microwaves also.
However in all the other works I saw that talk about koshering microwaves no distinction was even mentioned about what the microwave was made of. Based on this many people kosher all types of microwaves after cleaning them well, using the steam from boiling water.
Blessings
