There are a number of common corrosive substances that will damage cutlery if care is not taken to prevent it. These are salt, acid such as vinegar and lemon juice, mineral salts which are present in tap water, bleach, harsh detergents, fats and meat juices. Direct heat can also mark metal.

If you follow the recommendations shown below your cutlery will give years of service and will continue to look good:

• Wash cutlery in hot, soapy water as soon as possible after use.
• Quickly rinse with hot water; wipe dry with clean cloth immediately.
• Never leave dirty cutlery to soak and never leave cutlery damp.

Dishwashing

Cutlery may be cleaned in the dishwasher. Again, there are some does and don’ts when using dishwashers:

• Do follow the manufacturers’ instructions, particularly in relation to adding dishwasher salt.
• Do wash your cutlery as soon as possible after you have finished using it. The salts and acids present in food will start the staining process if they are left on the cutlery for any length of time.
• Do remove the cutlery immediately after the wash/dry cycle is finished, and wipe over with a clean tea towel. If cutlery is left to cool down in the dishwasher, trace mineral salts and the dishwasher salt residue will settle on the cutlery in the moist atmosphere and start the pitting and staining process.
• Do not mix stainless steel and silver plated cutlery in the dishwasher basket as a chemical reaction between detergents and steel can leave marks on the silver plate.
• Do not use the rinse and hold cycle on the dishwasher – it is as damaging as leaving cutlery to soak in water.

Cutlery – Buy Online!

Jesmond 18/0 Cutlery

When choosing a cutlery set it is important to consider some of the following points…

Stainless Steel Cutlery sets

The vast majority of restaurants will use Stainless steel cutlery. It is a mixture of steel, nickel and chromium and in cutlery it is described by the nickel and chromium content in that order by the description of two numbers separated by a forward slash. 18/10 is the most popular restaurant grade of stainless steel, which means of the 100 parts in the steel, 18 parts are nickel, 10 parts are chromium and the remaining 72 parts are steel, which itself is an alloy of iron and carbon. One of the major advantages of 18/10 cutlery, and the reason it is very popular in restaurants, is that it is a hard material. This makes the cutlery dishwasher safe and resistant to scratching. If tarnishing appears on 18/10 cutlery the two likely reasons are that it is low quality or incorrect use of detergents in the dishwasher.

Cutlery handle – Solid or hollow design

This is purely a design preference by the restaurant. Solid handles have a firm, smaller feel in the hand whilst hollow handles feel more chunky and are much lighter. There is no difference in durability and it is rare to find much difference in cost. Traditional cutlery patterns such as Harley, Jesmond, Bead, Kings and Dubarry are known as Parish Patterns.

Cutlery – Buy Online

The above is extracted from the CESA guide on buying cutlery, not some other site : )