Question
Are there certain utensils whether used for cooking or for eating that if not used for a certain period of time are now considered kosher? If so, would you please specify which kind of utensils and also if they would now be considered parve utensils.
Answer
Shalom,
Thank you for your question. The simple answer is that no matter how long has passed since a utensil became unkosher it is still not kosher until it undergoes the koshering process. So, even if more than a year has passed since a pot was used to cook unkosher food in, it is still forbidden to use the pot for kosher cooking until it is koshered.
However, the passing of time has two important results in the world of the laws of kashrut. Firstly, after the fact, if food was cooked in an unkosher pot, then if 24 hours had passed since the pot was used for non-kosher cooking, the cooked food is (sometimes) kosher. That is, even though the passing of 24 hours does not make the pot kosher, it does become a factor in determining if food that was accidently cooked in it is considered post-facto kosher. For this reason if you ever made a mistake and used a non-kosher pot (or mixed a milk with a meat pot etc) you should call a rabbi before throwing the food out – the food may still be kosher.
Secondly, if the non-kosher utensil has not been used for more than twelve months, this becomes a factor in how it is to be koshered. For example, we generally do not kosher porcelain vessels. But, if they have not been used for more than twelve months, we take this into account and sometimes allow them to be koshered. None the less, we do not rule that after a year (or more) a non-kosher pot automatically is considered kosher.
Blessings.
