I love silver. Teapots, sugar and creamers, trays, decorative frames and items. When grouped together and gleaming, silver can look very luxurious. But with silver, comes the tarnish – which some people loathe so much, they rarely take out their silver to be used. If you’re a “Downton Abbey” fan, I’m sure you’ve wished your tea would be served out of one of those gleaming teapots! Personally, I don’t mind polishing silver. If you keep on top of it, there really is very minimal effort. I usually polish about 2, maybe 3 times a year. I have used many different types of polishes. I recently purchased a silver tea service that was so badly tarnished and had residue from past poor polishing. I experimented with the following method and in less than 15 minutes my entire set was shiny as new! This is my new go-to method to clean my silver! So try this and I’m sure you’ll be hooked back on your silver and dragging it out of the closet to put on display.
What You Need – these are small amounts, increase as needed
Materials:
• Aluminum foil
• Glass dish or aluminum baking pan (the disposable types used for roasting turkey, etc.)
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• Tongs to remove silverware from boiling water
Instructions:
1. Bring water to a boil. When combined with the other ingredients the water will activate the baking soda and start the process of transferring the tarnish to the foil.
2. Add the dry ingredients into the pan and slowly pour in the vinegar. You will cause a slight reaction, so pour carefully! It is possible to clean your silver without adding vinegar, but the vinegar will dramatically speed up the process.
3. Pour in the boiling water and then place the silver into your pan, making sure each piece is touching the foil. Try not to let any of the pieces overlap. This should only take about 30 seconds but if you have heavily tarnished pieces you may need to let them soak a few minutes longer.
4. Use tongs to remove the silverware and work off any remaining spots by buffing dry.
I rinsed my silver under warm water and then dried. If you want to store your silver, wrap it tightly in saran wrap and it will remain tarnish free until you need to use it.
