Its Christmas time to break out the Silver!
Using Science to clean your Silver…
How to clean Silver utensils etc. Using a sheet of aluminum foil, hot water, baking soda, table salt and a pan to do this in.
Place a sheet of Aluminum foil on the bottom of any baking pan. Put your tarnished silver on the sheet. The silver must be touching the aluminum sheet.
Heat some water (in a kettle or sause pot) enough to pour into the pan, covering the silver. Add a small amount of salt.
Add a cup or two of fresh baking soda to the hot water (add baking soda before it gets to hot or your solution will bubble over) and salt solution.
Once dissolved and quite hot, pour this over the item making sure contact is maintained between the item and the Aluminum foil.
Watch the tarnish disappear, this process is sure to impress small children or anyone who did not pass middle school science.
Remove when water is cooler and polish dry. It works well and is far less time consuming and expensive than using a silver or metal polish.
Check out the website of scientist B. Shakhashiri for a scientific explanation of the process. Or just go with what works like I do and not worry abut the reasons why.
