does tea affect the silver on spoons? the spoon seemed slightly easier to polish after being in the tea.
i am always experimenting because i have plated spoons that i don't want to ruin in this way.
The more you use silver the easier it is to keep clean, same applies to silver jewelry, if you wear it all the time you won't notice tarnish on it like you would if you leave it sitting in the jewelry box.
Foods that are highly acidic like tomatoes, pineapple can discolor it. You also need to watch things that are high in salt because salt can cause corrosion...silver salt shakers should be stored empty because of that and the reason why when you find a nice gravy ladle it's normally messed up.
I have a few odds and ends of it, grew up using nothing but for many years because my mother loved it, and could spot it a mile away like I can sitting in a yard sale or auction box.
When she got overwhelmed with my father and I... and it was too cold to escape outside to the garden, she drank wine and polished silver. The silver probably saved our lives some days.
You could almost gauge the stress in the house by how shiny the silver was.
