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Recipe 75 of 100 · The Country Cleans Mix Book

How to Clean Tarnished Silver for Thanksgiving

Foil and Baking Soda, No Polishing

Line a glass or ceramic dish with foil, shiny side up, flat across the bottom. Pour in 4 cups of steaming hot water, not boiling, and stir in 4 tablespoons baking soda. Lay the silver in so every piece touches the foil. Tarnish lifts in 30 seconds, heavy tarnish in 3 to 5 minutes. Pull pieces out with tongs, rinse and dry right away. Run the range hood or a window fan. Not for antiques, plated pieces or anything with dark patina on purpose.

Silverware Tarnish Bath recipe card: Foil, shiny side up, flat on the bottom, 4 cups steaming hot water, 4 tbsp baking soda
What it fixesBlack and yellow tarnish on solid sterling and silver flatware, fast, with no polishing.

You need

Mix it

  1. Line the bottom of the dish with foil, shiny side up. The foil must lie flat and cover the whole base.
  2. Heat the water until it is steaming hot but not boiling.
  3. Pour it into the dish and stir in the baking soda until it dissolves.

Use it

  1. Lay the silver in the dish so every piece is touching the foil. This is the whole trick. No contact, no reaction.
  2. Watch it. Tarnish starts lifting within 30 seconds and heavy tarnish takes 3 to 5 minutes. You will smell a faint rotten egg odor, which is the sulfur leaving the silver.
  3. Pull pieces out with tongs as they clear. Do not leave them soaking longer than needed.
  4. Rinse under warm water and dry immediately and completely with a soft towel.
  5. Repeat with fresh foil and fresh solution if any tarnish remains. Used foil goes gray and stops working.
Dale's noteThis is an electrochemical swap, not a scrub. The sulfur moves off the silver and onto the aluminum, which is why you lose zero metal and why polishing cloths, which do remove metal, are worse for your silver over a lifetime.
Don'tDo this at a sink with the range hood or a window fan running, and do not lean over the pan. The rotten egg smell is hydrogen sulfide and a small kitchen holds it. Do not put antiques, plated silverware, or any piece with intentional dark patina in this bath. It strips the deliberate blackening out of engraved detail and ornate handles in seconds, it can lift thin plating, and on a valuable antique it destroys the value permanently. Hand polish those instead.
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