The Brilliant Hack That Makes It Easy To Clean Candle Holders In Your Menorah

To celebrate Hanukkah, families and friends gather on each of the eight nights of the holiday toplay games, eat fried foods, and give gifts. Of all these traditions, though, the menorah and its candle-lighting ritual are the immediate imagery most associated with this festival. Over the course of the holiday, because fresh candles need to be used every night, celebrants will use an entire package of 44 ... and that's a lot of old, melted candles that need to be cleaned out every day before the next night's festivities. 

Luckily, there's an easy hack to get that wax out of those tiny candle holders, using a simple corkscrew from your kitchen or wine bar.

Now, there are several tricks and tips to prepare your menorah before placing the candles in it, as a way to prevent the wax from sticking in the first place, such as wrapping the candle bottoms with aluminum foil, so they pull right out when you're done, or coating your menorah in cooking spray. However, if you forget to prep, or if your prevention methods don't work as well as you hoped, it's good to know how to effectively get partially melted candles out of the menorah and ready for the next night's ritual.

If your Hanukkah candles have melted down significantly, they might be hard to pull out of the menorah after each night's lighting ritual. Another frequent problem is when the remaining candle breaks inside the well, so there's no way to pull it out again. In both of these scenarios, a corkscrew is a lifesaver. It creates a handle where there previously was none, and once the candle is secured onto it, it should lift easily out of the menorah.

Simply open up your handheld corkscrew and twist it into the candle then pull it out, the same way you would with a cork in a wine bottle. This is a much more efficient and effective way to remove the wax than by using toothpicks or flatware to try to pick it out in clumps, as this will keep the candle mostly intact. Furthermore, it's much quicker and easier than more elaborate methods of cleaning your menorah. As a daily ritual, simply removing the leftover candles and wiping down your menorah is sufficient to prepare for the next night, and using a corkscrew will help in a pinch.