Test Kitchen: Can Ketchup Really Clean Copper

Guest Writer:  Ruth Morse

Good thing we named our Test Kitchen "MORSE'S" instead of "RUTH'S" Jim saw this little household hint on American Restoration, did the research, took the pictures for this whole shebang.

He drew the line at writing up his finding, though. There goes his paycheck.

Guess what common household food item can be used to clean copper?

I know, I know--everyone says salt and lemon juice can clean copper, but I've tried that routine with very little success. HOWEVER! This food product actually cleans copper quite successfully!

Are you ready?

Sitting on the edge of your seat?

Holding your breath?

The food item is:

KETCHUP!

Yup.....
 plain old common place ketchup. Jim ran two different tests. One worked amazingly well. The other was a pretty good success. Here's the deal.

TEST KITCHEN RESULT #1:

Take an ordinary tarnished copper penny.
Submerge it in ketchup.

For this test, Jim stood the penny on edge so we could see the real WOW difference.

Amazing, isn't it? The ketchup does all the work for you in one step, with no rubbing or scrubbing. I don't know the chemical reaction that needs to take place to remove the tarnish. Several people have wondered just what chemical reaction happens in your stomach when you eat ketchup, but I refuse to go there. Love ketchup.

TEST KITCHEN RESULT #2:

Test #1 was a total success, so Jim moved on to bigger and better test. Get out your copper bottom pot. Slop some ketchup over the tarnished bottom.

I think Jim was too cheap [frugal?] to cover the entire pot.

As you can see, much of the tarnish has disappeared. Again, no scrubbing or rubbing involved. Just lay the ketchup on, leave it for a time, then rinse off. I think that another application might have cleaned the pot even more. But, in my book, you are going to spend a fair amount of money on ketchup cleaning pots. It does work though. Maybe you can buy commercial size jugs of ketchup if you are in the mood for mega-cleaning.

By the way, we only buy ketchup that does not contain high fructose corn syrup. It used to be very hard to locate a brand that didn't have that awful glop in it but high fructose corn syrup has gotten such bad press lately that ketchup manufacturers have been motivated to change their formulas. Much easier to find these days.

And, hey! What gives with the KETCHUP-CATSUP thing? I don't have a clue why there are two ways to spell this wonderful stuff. Either way, your copper can shine and you can save a pretty penny [get it? pretty as in cleaned? get it?] by not buying the copper cleaners on the market.

This test gets a super duper rating:

AAA

not the driving kind,

the ASTONISHING AND AWESOME kind 

-

-

...and one more thing......

uh, I'll get back to you when I remember it.

-

-

-

The Cheap Senior Citizen is a Guest Writer who shares helpful hints and results from her test kitchen.

-