Choice and Care of Utensils 1347 



green coloring that forms when copper is exposed to moist air alone is 

 not verdigris, although it is often so called. Copper cooking utensils 

 should be washed with washing soda in order to remove all grease; stains 

 should be removed with salt and vinegar, or with oxalic acid; and the 

 utensil should then be thoroughly rinsed. Unless the acid used for cleaning 

 is thoroughly rinsed off, copper will tarnish the more quickly because of 

 its use. The acid may be further counteracted by rubbing' with whiting. 

 If not stained, copper is best brightened by rubbing with rottenstone or 

 tripoli and sweet oil. Rottenstone and tripoli are varieties of an impure 

 decayed limestone. 



Silver 



Silver is of all metals the best conductor of heat, but its costliness bars 

 it out as a cooking utensil. Silver has to be combined with copper in 

 order to make a compound hard enough for use. Plated silver is copper 

 with a thin coating of silver applied by electricity. Silver does not tarnish, 

 that is, grow dark, unless it comes in contact with sulfur. " Oxidized " 

 silver has been treated with sulfur — in other words, purposely tarnished. 

 If our silver discolors badly, there is an escape of sulfur either from our 

 fires or from our lights; or the silver has been stored near rubber or has 

 come in contact with a rubber plate-scraper; or it has been wrapped in 

 paper or cloth bleached with sulfur; or it has been used in eating eggs. 

 Or, possibly, some one has been handling the silver who has previously 

 assisted in spraying the orchard with lime-sulfur; in which case he would 

 find it very difficult, in one washing, to free his hands from sulfur sufficiently 

 so that they would not affect silver. The rule against handling silver with 

 the bare hand in wiping it or in setting the table is a labor-saving one, 

 since human perspiration also contains sulfur and a warm, moist hand is 

 sure to leave its mark. 



Cloudiness of silver, with no change of color, may be due to imperfect rins- 

 ing or to that film of dust and moisture present in any room not perfectly 

 ventilated where human beings work and breathe. Plenty of hot soap- 

 suds, careful rinsing and wiping, will remove this film without the need 

 of much rubbing. To remove tarnish the use of silver polish, or of some- 

 thing that replaces it, is necessary. Silver is successfully cleaned by 

 boiling it for five minutes in a new or bright aluminum or tin dish, in a 

 solution made of one tablespoonf ul of baking soda and one tablespoonful of 

 salt to every quart of water. The aluminum utensil must be kept scoured 

 or it will not be effective. Most silver polishes have whiting for a founda- 

 tion, made into a paste with either water, soap and water, alcohol, or, 

 for solid silver, ammonia. The paste is rubbed in, the liquid allowed 

 ±0 evapccate, and the powder rubbed off with tissue paper or with a soft 



