Clean silver utensils and use more frequently

Every year again: Clean silver cutlery before the holidays and feast days, then neatly put it back in the cutlery box. My neighbor laughs every time I am back to solve the patina of the past months with my home remedies. Now she gave me the tip in the fun to use the silver all year round, because then I could save me the polishing. Where she is right, she is right. Not for nothing it is said that the unused silver annoying black while lying ?.

The mix does it? S

In times of shabby chic and vintage, the old silver cutlery will be taken out of the closet again. It does not have to be the heirloom with over 50 parts from one manufacturer. It also looks pretty when mixing different cutlery and styles from past decades.

Buy old silver cutlery

No matter where you look around: on Internet platforms, at the flea market around the corner, at the flea market or in the neighbor's kitchen cupboard? pay attention to whether it is genuine silverware or silvered cutlery, so-called hotel silver. Of course, both can be nice and pleasing, but it differs in price and also in how it wants to be maintained.


Silver is not the same as silver

"Yes, yes, that's silver?" Many years ago, a booth owner at the flea market told me, so I bought a few fish knives at overpriced price. Fact is, if a 40, 60, 80, 84, 90, 100 or 110 is engraved, then you are interested in a silvered cutlery. This means that on 24 cutlery pieces 40, 60, 84, etc. grams of silver were processed. It looks different if you encounter the authenticity stamp with 800, 830, 900, 925, 935 or sterling. For example, the 800 stands for the silver content of 800 out of 1,000 parts, or 80 percent. Sterling is 92.5 percent. Until the year 1870, it was expressed in lot. For example, 10 lots correspond to 625 parts of silver, 12 to 750 parts of silver and 16 to 999 parts of pure silver. And with that you know immediately that the cutlery is already very old.

care Tips

Old silver does not belong in the dishwasher. At that time, glued joints and fillings were used, which are simply getting too hot in the machine today. Very old blades are not stainless. Modern silver cutlery are suitable for the dishwasher, but with the detergent you should make sure that no additives are included, such as for glass protection or stainless steel gloss. By such additives, it can quickly start bluish or brownish. Although you can do something about it by putting a piece of aluminum foil in the cutlery grid of the machine, aluminum has its advantages and disadvantages.

Alu-salt method for cleaning cutlery desilvered

Granted, it's a simple way to make the silverware shine again: lay out the washbasin with aluminum foil, sprinkle with plenty of salt, add water and add the cutlery. It's amazing how the silver almost cleans itself by this combination. But actually aluminum is used for professional desilvering. So there is always a bit of silver plating, which can be a problem with a thin silver plating and more frequent cleaning with this method.

Do not eat the golden breakfast egg with the silver spoon

Today I realize why, as children, we have always been so salted about our Sunday egg. With the silver spoon underneath that had simply not tasted and we tried to cover the strange taste. We did not know that hydrogen sulphide, which is produced during egg cooking, mixes with the silver sulphide. That there were always colorful plastic spoons elsewhere was not a sign of poverty but a sign of taste.

After the feast is before the feast

As it stands, we keep the silverware in everyday life. I do not think I will miss the polish as a special stop before Christmas, Easter, anniversaries, birthdays round or the set table for us is too different from everyday life. With pretty candles, atmospheric decoration, stylish napkins and finally the special culinary enjoyment is provided for enough variety. If necessary, the existing porcelains of the grandparents are mixed.

Clean silver, removing tarnish instantly without polishing or harsh chemicals | March 2024