Simple hack
A piece of aluminum foil in the dishwasher works wonders
Is your cutlery from the dishwasher somewhat dead and dull? You can solve this problem with a simple trick.
published
A ball of aluminum foil to break through the house? We explain why aluminum foil makes your cutlery shine in the dishwasher.
IMAGO / YAY images
In the Tiktok video, user Carolina McCauley herself appears on her profile household hacks She specializes in her favorite trick to make your cutlery shine. Her method doesn’t require tedious polishing, though it’s just something you probably have at home anyway.
The trick is the foil: Karolina puts a piece of wrinkled aluminum foil in her dishwasher’s cutlery basket and voila: the cutlery is super shiny afterwards. This works because the crockery becomes dull with a layer of rust. Flash rust is rust that occurs, for example, from screws inside a machine or on pans – and then settles on cutlery. Aluminum foil here acts like a lightning rod: it oxidizes more easily than stainless steel and thus attracts rust. In addition, there is a chemical reaction between the aluminum foil and the dishwashing detergent, which can also remove the discoloration.
The hack worked, but it’s not without controversy: aluminum foil actually takes a lot of energy during production—and aluminum oxide can end up in the environment in the long run.
Imago Pictures/Panthermedia
By the way: even if Carolina describes the cutlery in the video as “silverware”, that is, silver cutlery, most of the cutlery used today is made of stainless steel. And: The hack works, it’s not harmful to health, but unfortunately it’s not particularly good for the environment. Aluminum production already requires a lot of energy and aluminum oxides can enter the environment with the rinse water.
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