Or dip the spoons in ketchup and leave them there (acid from the tomatoes, plus salt.)

Just finished doing this today.. Good timing :)

OH OH! Could you also do a post on how to clean and polish Zinc? I just inherited a beaut but it needs some serious love. I've asked bartenders who work with them and they say just water or regular cleaner, but that just makes it worse.

Totally loving these natural tips!

@Thelinus - a friend of mine just installed a zinc bar top in her house and the company that installed it said a straight mixture of distilled vinegar and distilled water (1:1 parts) cleans it up nicely.

I used to clean pennies this way when I was a little kid.

"Simply halve a lemon..." "Half" is an adjective. The verb that means "cut something in half" is spelled "halve."

i have some copper bottomed pots that i tried this with but it didn't really work. They weren't very well cared for and i guess theres cooked on grease etc. how can i clean them so that this technique will polish them up? I've tried baking soda, but its not quite enough. Anyone?

@surfjack and anyone else... Cleaning Pewter?
I have a fancy salt & pepper shaker set that look like pewter and the holder is green from salt abuse and years of not cleaning. Lots of nooks and crannies.
The closest image I could find online is here, except the actual salt & pepper shakers are glass cylinders topped with a metal cap (obviously not stainless, also corroded).
http://img0.etsystatic.com/il_fullxfull.263493868.jpg
Does anyone have a suggestion for cleaning?

@BATYA7 - I remember my grandmother having some pewter that she cleaned with a mixture of salt, flour (yep, regular baking flour) and vinegar. It was like a paste and she'd apply it with a flour sack cloth. In the crevices, she'd put the damp cloth OVER a toothbrush and use that.

I'm not an expert, so I'm not sure if this would hurt a base metal, or something that's not pewter. Also, hers had that satin finish to it and I know some pewters have a matte finish or a polished finish, so maybe check with an antique place first to see how they clean up their stuff when it comes in tarnished. :)

@madknitter, I use Cameo cleaner on my copper-bottomed pots. Not a natural fix per se, but it is amazing how quickly it gets off the grime and keeps the bottom of my revere-ware shining.

Whenever I clean my copper pots and utensils with natural ingredients (like salt, flour, vinegar, similar to this lemon+salt idea), it always looks great that day, but then they start to tarnish again SO MUCH FASTER than if I use a commercial copper polish. I'd love to just use the natural stuff, but I'm not interested in polishing a dozen pots and half dozen utensils every 2 weeks! (They all hang on the kitchen wall.) Has anyone else had this problem??