A few years ago I helped open a restaurant that boasted a long line of copper pots in the kitchen. For the first few days they were brilliant. However, after a month of use on the large, professional gas stoves, the pans were totally tarnished. One afternoon, the chef de cuisine gathered the cooks and took on the project of polishing the sauciers to their former glory and taught me this excellent, earth friendly technique that will make your copper shine.
What You Need
Materials
¼ Cup Fine Sea Salt
¼ Cp All Purpose Flour
White Vinegar
Mixing Bowl
A Soft Rag (I use a sock that lost its match in the wash)
Instructions
1. Combine the sea salt and flour.
2. Add the white vinegar a little bit a time while stirring until you’ve made a thick paste.
3. Rub the paste onto the pot or pan using a cloth (or sock) until it shines.
4. Rinse, dry, and display!
Thanks, Rowan!
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(Images: Rowan Johnson)
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Good article, great pictures.
I will give this a try on done of my copper pans!
=D
What a great trick! Thanks for sharing. We've got both a copper teakettle from an antique store and a copper fondue pot from a yard sale (a steal for $4!). In the past we've used copper polish and I'm sure it's full of nasty, bad-for-us and bad-for-the-planet chemicals. I'll try out this technique tonight.
for ages, my mom and grandmom have used lemon, tamarind rind and ash (from burning coal/wood) to clean utensils at home..:)..glad you guys discovered it and featured it here...lets all walk away from harmful chemicals challenging our very existence
Corn meal and half a lemon also works well.
Don't mess around with all that....simply smear ketchup on the copper and wipe. Voila.
I've just tried it on my very well used copper pots. The ketchup works great with air tarnished copper only, but for stove tarnished pots, the salt, flour and vinegar works great (a bit more rub than my usual chemical cleanser though).
Re: (Welcome to Rowan, who's trying out for a spot on our editorial team. Enjoy!)
I just wanted to point out that his article was featured on Lifehacker today. I hope that helps figure into the hiring decision :-)