TikToker shows how to clean your tarnished copper pots with 2 common household items: 'This is the fastest way'

A TikToker has shown off an easy and inexpensive way to clean tarnished copper cookware.

The scoop

In the video, user mistamustad (@mistamustad) shows a tarnished copper basin sink that gets brightened up in seconds — using just two ingredients that are likely in your kitchen right now.

@mistamustad This is the fastest way I've found to clean copper. This trick doesn't last very long on copper sinks unfortunately. Lemon, salt, scrub…#cleaninghacks ♬ original sound - mistamustad

In the video, the TikToker squeezes half of a fresh lemon directly into the sink basin. Then, they sprinkle a little bit of salt on top of the lemon. From there, they grab a sponge and start to scrub the sink. The tarnish disappears in seconds, revealing a clean, like-new sink.

"This is the fastest way I've found to clean copper," the TikToker captions the video. While they say it doesn't last long in a copper sink, which is a high-use area, the cleaning trick is super easy to do.

How it's helping

Copper looks so great in the kitchen — whether sinks, teapots, pans, or other items. But it does tarnish easily, making it look old and dull. 

But store-bought tarnish removers can be extremely expensive. Even budget options from Amazon can cost more than $12 for 16 ounces. 

Using a lemon and some salt will cost you far less than that per scrubbing (and even less if you happen to have a lemon tree in your yard).

The Environmental Working Group lists some tarnish-removing ingredients including thiourea, corrosion inhibitors, and surfactants in its Skin Deep database as having an "F" score for their link to serious health issues.

What everyone's saying

One TikToker had a great idea to make the lemon-salt combo even more effective. 

"If you dump the salt directly on the lemon you can scrub with that," they write. "I used to do that when I didn't have sponges."

Another TikToker offered a variation on the hack, saying that vinegar "does the same thing." 

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