How to Clean Silver Cutlery
Do you love serving food in your silverware? If so, then chances are that you have a hard time trying to think of a way to preserve the glossy color after each and every use. Well, if you haven’t found out a solution to this problem yet, make sure to check out the easiest method of cleaning silver cutlery below, that too without having to break a sweat while doing it!
Actually, there are a number of ways that you can adopt to keep your silverware shiny and clean. One good example might be using your hand sanitizer to clean it off. All you need to do is pour a few blobs of your sanitizer onto a cloth and gently rub through the surfaces of your silverware. Once finished, you will be left with sparkly pieces of silver cutlery on your kitchen counter.
Another interesting example might be to use ketchup to clean the items made out of silver. You will require a piece of paper towel with a bit ketchup poured in it. The next step is to take your time and slowly scrub off the stained areas using the paper towel.
However, if the stains are more stubborn, you can try applying a bit of ketchup on those areas and set it aside for a couple of minutes. After 15-20 minutes, use your paper towel to clean off, rinse and polish silver. You can also use a toothbrush to clean up the areas you could not have dealt while using the paper towel.
Nonetheless, if you are not up for either of the methods mentioned above, make sure to give this one a try!
How to Clean Silver Cutlery
🍴 Using Aluminum Foil
The first step for cleaning up your silverware is to get hold of a sheet of aluminum foil. If you don’t have aluminum foil at home, you can grab one from your nearby general store since it is a very common household item that is used in the kitchen.
So, the key is to look for a dish or tray which is large enough to fit in all your silver cutlery. After you have found the perfect container, you will need to spread out a sheet of aluminum foil on the dish or tray to prevent it from getting stained while washing the silverware.
You also want to prevent any kind of odor from being pervaded to the container. The aluminum foil acts as a protective layer for the dish.
🍴 Placing The Silverware
The next step is to gather all the silver cutlery that have gone dull into the container folded with aluminum. Make sure to keep a little space among the items to allow the reaction to work properly.
🍴 Using Baking Soda
Once you have put all the silverware into the dish, hold a packet of baking soda in one hand and drizzle it evenly on all of the items. Make sure to use enough of it to ensure that the reaction takes place without any disturbance. You can try making a thick layer out of it if you want to. However, you will be left with a pungent smell in the room while the reaction is taking place.
🍴 Boiling Water
For the fourth step, you will have to carefully pour in boiling water into the container full of silverware to allow the reaction to take place. Pour in enough of it to make sure that the silverware are completely submerged in the boiling hot water. The reaction will continue on its own and hence, you can easily use that time to relax or finish any other work in between.
Note that you can leave the dish aside for as long as you need to get rid of the layer of sulfur dioxide from the silver cutlery. Otherwise, if the items don’t have any stubborn stains, 5 minutes will be more than enough to make them look all shiny again.
🍴 Buffing & Drying
Now that the main work is done, for the last step, you will have to take the time to dry up the clean silverware one by one. You will need tongs to pick up every piece from the container to set it aside on a regular cotton dishcloth. Use several cloths if required to dry it off. Use the cloth to rub off the surfaces to make them look more polished, shiny and most importantly, clean.
For safety measures, you can use gloves to get the work done. However, make sure to not use rubber gloves since they promote corrosion in silverwares. You can try using plastic or cotton gloves instead. If you are cleaning up longer pieces of silver cutlery, it will be wise to use the dishcloth to rub off the items from the top to the bottom. Otherwise, for wider pieces, you can use pressurized circular motions to clean it off and for finer pieces with complex designs, you can try using a cotton Q-tip to get the job done.
Overview
These are the basic steps that you will need to clean off your silver cutlery items. However, if your silverwares are still slightly stained, you might just have to repeat all the steps mentioned above for better results. Also, if you are not up for organizing all the requirements for carrying out the entire procedure, you can just grab a silver polish from the store and tone it up.
For regularly used items, you can use a non-abrasive dish cleanser while rinsing and scrubbing the silverwares. Make sure that the cleanser does not contain even the slightest bit of lemon since it can cause corrosion right away.
You also need to ensure that the items are dried off immediately after being rinsed and that they are kept in a dry place where they can’t come in contact with any sort of moisture. A silver cloth might also be helpful in preserving the sterling shine on your silver cutlery.