PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – When it comes to washing dishes by hand, you want a detergent that gets the job done.

However, do you have to pay more to get one that cuts through grease and makes dishes sparkle?

Consumer Reports tested 14 dish detergents to find out which ones work the best.

“We looked at dishwashing liquids from big brands like Dawn, Palmolive, and Joy, and from large retailers,” Celia Kuperszmid from Consumer Reports said.

Those included Kirkland Signature from Costco and Earth Essentials from CVS.

The most expensive product tested was The Laundress dish detergent, which costs close to a $1 an ounce!

To test a dishwashing liquid’s cleaning power, Consumer Reports created quite a mess.

“If you think your dishes are dirty, well, we actually take a mixture of evaporated milk, egg yolks, sugar, and flour; smear it on glass plates; bake the stuff on; and then we try to clean it off,” Kuperszmid said.

Testers pour warm water mixed with dish detergent onto each glass and let a scrub machine go to work.

Because many of the dishwashing liquids claim to be “hard on grease,” testers checked that out too.

They dipped steel plates in lard and left them to harden, then put them in the scrubbing machine.

“All of the brands that we tested performed equally well regardless of price. So, really, the best advice from us is just go buy whatever’s on sale,” Kuperszmid said.

Among the least expensive dish detergents were Kirkland Signature from Costco and Ajax at just six cents an ounce.

Here’s a cleaning tip from Consumer Reports’ experts.

Your soapy dishwater is good only as long as you see suds.

Once the suds are gone, you’ve lost your cleaning power, so you need to start over with new water and dishwashing liquid.

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