HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3279, 14 March 1931, Page 7

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Almonds to be salted are greatly improved if, after being blanched and skinned, they are thoroughly dried before frying. The process should be gradual, the almonds being dried either in a cool oven or on a plate rack and should take about 24 hours. Blankets to be washed for the first time should be put to soak for a short while in warm soapy water, to which a little rock ammonia dissolved in a pint of soft water has been added.

Dates, stoned, passed through a mincer and mixed with half their weight of chopped walnuts and cherries, make a good emergency sweet. Form into a slab, cover on both sides with rice paper, and cut into squares. Eggshells have several household uses. Crushed finely with a rolling pin or flat iron and stored in jars, they make an excellent cleanser for all enamel ware. The empty shell of a boiled egg, with a small hole pierced through the end, can be used as a funnel when bottling strong-smelling liquids, such as paraffin. Fire will light easily if a cinder is soaked overnight in paraffin and placed on the paper laid at the bottom of the fireplace and covered with small pieces of coal. A match to the paper will cause the coal to light from the oil-soaked cinder. Dried orange peel is also useful in lighting or brightening refactory fires. So are broken gramophone reccds. Grease marks can be removed from delicate materials with eucalyptus oil. Dip a piece of white rag in the eucalyptus and work in a light rotary movement from the outside of the spot. If this is done it will not spread, as it is inclined to do when rubbed from the centre working outwards.

Handkerchiefs should always be soaked in salt and water before being washed. When ironing them pull out the corners to make them square, and then press the hemstitched borders on both sides before ironing the centres and folding them.

Ironing sometimes causes coloured materials that are fast in washing and sunlight to mark the ironing cloth. Never iron a coloured article without first testing this, nor use an iron that is very hot. A garment that is shrunk should be ironed while damp; it will then usually stretch to its former width. If it has overstretched in the washing, ironing while the material is dry will help shrinkage. Jet ornaments or black sequins are easily cleaned. Brush well with a soft brush and put them in a mixture of equal parts of vinegar and water. Leave to soak for 20 minutes. Dry with a fine towel, and polish with a piece of velvet. Lapels on men's coats that were originally intended to lie flat can be delicately rolled with an ordinary iron. Place the jacket on the ironing board with the lining underneath and lapels unfolded so that the whole front of the jacket lies flat. Allow the ironing cloth to overlap the lapels a trifle, then press, afterwards banging the lapels with the back of a heavy brush. Hang up to air. i