If you are one of those people who want their cutlery to shine like new, then you should definitely give this trick a try.
The problem with the cutlery that we put in the dishwasher is that we rinse them before putting them in the machine, they do not always come out shiny and clean. Of course, you can opt for a laborious polish, but there is a much easier method, as Carolina McCauley shows on TikTok. This Aussie specializes in household hacks and she shares her favorite polishing technique.
She places a ball of aluminum foil in the cutlery basket of her dishwasher and voilà: the cutlery is then extra shiny. Simply roll a piece of aluminum foil into a ball and place it in the cutlery basket of the dishwasher. Then run the machine on the standard setting and be sure to use your regular dishwasher detergent. Your cutlery will come out of the machine shiny like never before.
And it’s not because aluminum foil cleans leftover food from cutlery; it is a chemical reaction between the aluminum and the ingredients in the dishwasher detergent. This method works because the cutlery becomes dull due to “volatile rust”. Volatile rust is rust that forms, for example, from screws inside the machine or on pans, and which then settles on cutlery.
Aluminum foil acts like a lightning rod here: it oxidizes more easily than stainless steel and thus attracts rust. In addition to this, a chemical reaction between the aluminum foil and the dishwasher detergent helps to remove other stains.
The trick is not harmful to health but is unfortunately not very environmentally friendly. Indeed, the production of aluminum requires a lot of energy and aluminum oxides can be released into the environment with the washing water.