How to Naturally Clean Silver

Well, I decided to give it a shot and here’s what happened!

*** IMPORTANT UPDATE***  I initially forgot one very important step… To add a spoonful of baking soda to the boiling water… oops! Be sure to do that to get this natural method to work well!!

Last summer in Maine, I scored some sterling silver spoons mixed along in a bunch of silver plate flatware at a tag sale… But honestly some of it was so tarnished, I couldn’t make out the markings on the back, so I had no idea it was sterling until after I got rid of the tarnish.

I don’t like using chemicals if I can do without, so I tried this natural method of cleaning the tarnish off.

Here are the sterling spoons before I cleaned them. I cleaned the plated spoons too, but for some reason didn’t include them in the before picture.

This was going to be fun! I felt like I was having a little chemistry experiment in my kitchen… without the chemicals. 😉

Here’s what I did to try to clean them naturally:

How to naturally clean silver:

Bring a pot of water to boil with some clumps of aluminum foil.  ***Then add a spoonful of baking soda!

Lay the silver items in the water, and watch the tarnish lift off and stick to the foil…

Mine actually left a yucky scum on the top edge of the water on the pot too… I think some of that was the old tarnish creme left over from the last cleaning or something.

But the point is, this really worked.

I have no idea how or why, but it worked pretty darn well.

Here are the spoons laying on the towel drying after the natural cleaning.

So if you have some tarnished silver that you’d like to bring back the gleaming finish to, but don’t want to use stinky chemicals, try this natural method and see if it works for you too!

For more handy household tips I’ve shared, be sure to check out the DIY, Tutorials & Tips page.

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