Article by BuyCatering Ireland
When you invested in your cutlery, you probably couldn?t resist going for silverware, at least for one off occasions. As I?m sure you knew when you bought it, silver cutlery is a bit of a nightmare to maintain. This article should tell you all need to know about how to best polish your cutlery.
First off, wash the cutlery by hand. The cutlery is probably built for dishwashers, but it is still best to wash them by hand for various reasons. Use a soft sponge to hand wash the cutlery in warm water with a little bit of soap in it. Make sure you rub the cutlery hard to ensure all food is removed from them.
Once you?ve done this, fill up the sink with hot water and a small bit of vinegar, and then put the cutlery in.
Next you want to use a chamois leather or silver mitts to rub the blade on each piece of cutlery until the water has gone. Also rub on some baking soda and water with a sponge. Then rinse the cutlery again and polish with a clean, dry tea towel.
If the cutlery is very tarnished, mix 2 teaspoons of baking soda into a cup of hot water, and then add a small piece of aluminium foil (don?t ask why, just do it!). Pop your cutlery in for 15 minutes or so, then rinse it off and rub it dry.
That?s it! Once the handles have dried, you should have nice, shiny cutlery, so put them in your cutlery tray or air tight container, and repeat the process. If some of it doesn?t look spotless, just get the tea towel back out and go over them again.
You may want to use a polish designed for cleaning silverware, which is fine, but just ensure it is non-toxic, e.g. does not contain chemicals like chlorine.
One little extra tip is to line your cutlery trays or the container your keep them in with a special cloth, along with a piece of white chalk (again, don?t ask why!). Both of these will help prevent tarnishing.
You will probably find this quite boring, but it is worth it if you want your cutlery to maintain that sparkly shine it had when you first bought it. Don?t waste your time doing this for your stainless steel cutlery, just wash that in the dishwasher. Good luck with it!