Tarnish

Here's a silver cleaning challenge not unlike those between different brands of laundry detergents. At the Brand X corner, we have the buah lerak that I smuggled in from Jogjakarta. At the Brand Y corner is a chemical cleanser that I bought from a silver shop in Endah Parade. I put both to the test. With the buah lerak, I just need to peel off a little bit of the skin and wet it. Then I brushed the exposed flesh with a toothbrush. Magically, bubbles start to appear. The bubbles were used to clean my tarnished silver ring. No unpleasant smell, but the cleaning power was not that strong, leaving some heavily oxidized spots behind. To complete the challenge, I dipped the ring into the black chemical solution for ten seconds. Definitely smelled of acid! After the time was up, I dumped the ring into some soap solution and brushed the ring. At the end, I ran it through clean water and polished it with a special microfibre cloth. The chemical did a great job, but my skin suffered. Not giving up on the buah lerak, I tried it on my mother's pendant and it worked well! In conclusion, it's not a heavy duty cleanser, but it does do the job well and in a natural manner. The buah lerak is just dried after use and can kept for a long, long time.... Not bad huh? Perhaps I'll try to plant it after I've exhausted its flesh. So, convinced with Brand X? Too bad its not available on the local market.