For Malea’s princess tea party I borrowed my mother-in-laws silver. It used to be my husband’s grandma’s so it’s beautiful, antique and it was very very tarnished. I wasn’t planning on polishing it but then my mom told me a super easy trick that takes no time at all!
Here’s what you need:
- A large pot or a large sink
- Foil
- Baking Soda
- Hot water
- Tarnished Silver
Line the kitchen sink, with foil. Pour about 1 cup of baking soda into the bottom of the sink and then fill it with boiling hot water. If you only have to polish smaller items you can clean them in a large pot, just fill it with water until it starts to boil, then add the baking soda and a ball of foil.
Once you’ve added the water place the silver in the sink. Right away you’ll see the transformation of the tarnish leaving the silver. Once the tarnish is all gone, set the items aside. Once the sink is empty again, rinse the silver with warm water to remove any baking soda residue.
This is fun to do with kids because you can actually watch the tarnish coming off the silver, it’s pretty cool.
Next I cleaned a large serving platter that I inherited from my husband’s grandma. I changed the foil and baking soda in between the tea pots and the platter because the foil was covered in tarnish and needed to be switched out. This is a bit of a smelly task, it reminds me of the smell of sulfur, not my favorite.
Look at the transformation!
In less than 30 minutes {and with no scrubbing} the silver went from dingy and tarnished to shiny and gorgeous!
Beautiful, just beautiful!
Elizabeth Dilts says
December 7, 2012 at 9:41 amThanks for the tip! It worked wonders on all of my Silver Bells for Christmas!
Anna says
December 7, 2012 at 10:53 pmYay! I love hearing that! 🙂
Cheri says
January 18, 2013 at 6:55 amI will have to give this a try on the silver coffee service we received as a wedding present 34 years ago. How often do you have to do it?
Cheri
Tanya says
January 19, 2013 at 6:45 amI started doing this years ago on my silver jewellry. Important to use the foil shiny side up. I used boiling water though. Didnt know I could save even more time with hot tap water. Thanks for that tip!
Jo says
September 28, 2013 at 9:24 amI was very excited when I saw this. For I have a Silver Serving Tray which my Mom bought back in 1975. It was still all wrapped up and still in the box. Went to open it and saw it had sooooo much tarnish on it. I did want you said and most of it came off … not all. Am going to try this process again … hoping that the next time I do it, all of it comes off! Thank you.
Mimi says
November 25, 2013 at 9:23 amAfter YEARS of cleaning silver, and it NEVER got completely clean, I am going to try this.
sharon says
March 19, 2015 at 10:28 amI have tried this before…even going so far as to boil the water to make it hot. It did not work. Is there a problem with a stainless steel sink??? I wondered if somehow that affected the chemical reaction???
Thanks.
Anna says
March 19, 2015 at 1:23 pmOh, that’s a good question. I’m sure that’s the problem because I’ve done this countless times and it always works. Maybe do it in your bathroom sinks or bathtub. 🙂 And yes, the hotter the water the faster it gets cleaned!
Curious Al says
July 11, 2017 at 6:08 pmMost sheets of aluminum foil will not cover a kitchen sink without taping the seams where they overlap. And I can’t imagine doing that to a tub for a big silver platter. So is the aluminum foil part of the cleaning process instead of to protect the sink? If so, could you sit the silver platter on a sheet of aluminum foil in the tub?
Anna says
July 24, 2017 at 10:48 amThe aluminum is a key ingredient in the process because it’s a chemical reaction. For large platters I do one side at a time in the sink. The foil doesn’t have to perfectly line the sink (so you don’t need to tape it), it just has to be in the water.