Acidic foods will stain flatware

Dear Heloise: My everyday flatware continues to have dark spots of discoloration that I am unable to remove. I use high-grade flatware and the dishwasher.
Is there any remedy for these spots? I have recently gotten new flatware, and it is already happening again. Any suggestions? Peggy Chamberlain, Naperville, Ill.
Oops! First, you are not the only one this happens to! We checked with a couple of leading flatware manufacturers, and here is what they had to say:
Acidic foods, like salt, coffee, tea, eggs, tarter sauce, salad dressing, vinegar and many more, can cause a color change in flatware. To help prevent the problem, rinse well as soon as you can, and especially before you place flatware in the dishwasher if you aren't going to run it immediately. Leaving acidic foods on the utensils can actually pit them, which means the finish is permanently damaged. Don't put too many pieces of flatware in one basket or let them "nest" together, because they won't get clean. A dishwasher spot-free agent will help, and it's also a good idea not to use the heated drying cycle. Another important note: Do not use dishwasher detergent that contains lemon -- it can spot or pit the flatware. Some dishwashers have a "fine china" setting, and you should use this when washing your stainless-steel flatware.
If stains remain, try this: Make a paste of baking soda and water. Rub onto the stain, and then rinse well. You can also use a paste- or cream-type silver polish to keep your flatware looking good. Heloise
Dear Heloise: Last night, while preparing to bake Mexican cornbread, I noticed that I had no cream-style corn in my pantry.
My solution was to take a can of whole-kernel corn and put it in the food chopper -- juice, too. I chopped it until it was the consistency of cream-style corn.
Had I been going to serve it as a side dish, I would have put one package of sugar substitute and some butter in it. Needless to say, my guests never knew that I didn't have the best brand of cream-style corn for my Mexican cornbread. Emma Sanders, Tillar, Ark.
Dear Heloise: When preparing meatloaf, I use cheap latex gloves. I wash them with hot, soapy water and then tackle the meatloaf. Then, I wash them again and let them air-dry.
I hate the feel of the cold, wet meat -- plus, imagine all the germs that are under fingernails or in rings. In home economics 101, the first thing we were taught was hand-washing with hot, soapy water. We were supposed to sing the song "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and that was how long we should wash our hands. B.J., Via E-mail
XSend a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000, or you can fax it to (210) HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.
King Features Syndicate