A HOUSEWIFE'S DIARY

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 300, 20 December 1935, Page 3

A HOUSEWIFE'S DIARY

KEEPING FOOD FRESH, Q-REEN vegetables for salads and other purposes can be kept fresh in warm weather if they are not exposed to the air and light. After lightly sprinkling with water to which a pinch of bicarbonate of soda has been added, roll the vegetable in a clean cloth until required. Do not leave lettuce in water. Wrap tightly in paper and keep on a stone floor; or place under a flower pot. Plunge into water about one hour before needed. The stalks of parsley and mint become slimy if placed in water. Keep them in a dry basin, and cover with a saucer. To Keep Lemons'. Lemons can be kept fresh by placing them under a large basin, or under jam jars in a cool, dry place. Fresh and juicy lemons are ensured if they are first placed in hot water and then allowed to cool. Another way to keep lemons is to use a net-bag sold for holding tennis balls and hang it up in the larder whera the air can circulate all round the lemons. To Keep Fish. Fish and other perishable foods should be placed on a slab of marble if you can obtain one to fit on a shelf in the larder. Zinc gauze dish covers are assets for, quite as important as keeping food cool, is the protection of it from the contamination of flies. Wire Vegetable Racks. Wire vegetable racks, which allow air to circulate all round them save green vegetables from becoming limp too soon. Placing them in a .basin of cold water with a handful of salt half an hour before they need to be prepared freshens them up if they do grow wilted— To Keep Cheese. Cheese will keep fresh' and not go'mildew} in hot weafher if butter is rubbed on the side that goes on the dish and a lump of sugar is placed on the top. If a piece of old linen that has been dipped in vinegar is wrapped round a cheese, the cheese will keep moist and fresh and mould will not appear. To Keep Milk. A pinch of bicarbonate of soda will keep milk fresh. Any milk left over after tea-time should be scalded and every jug should be washed, scalded and rinsed in cold water aftejj use. Useful Jam Jar. If you have not a butter cooler, a substitute i§ an ordinary jam jar in which the butter is placed and the jar stood in a basin of cold water with a double thickness of butter muslin over the top, long enough to dip down into tho water over the sides of the jar.'

To Keep Sandwiches. Use plenty of grease-proof paper to wrap up the sandwiches and lay damp lettuce leaves between them. They ■ will then keep beauti* fully fresh. Another Idea for Cheese.

Cheese gets dry and tasteless if it is not properly cared for. Wrap your piece of cheese in a cloth slightly wet before putting it in the cheese dish. Just a dash of vinegar in the water in which the cloth is wetted keeps the flavour. Grate every morsel to the very rind when you have done with a piece of cheese. Keep the grated cheese in a corked bottle and use it. It adds to the taste of soup, vegetables and rice. It can also be made up into a tasty dish with any scraps of meat, fish or bacon, mixed with rice and made up with a beaten egg. A hard-boiled egg left over from a picnic can be sliced and mixed in with the other ingredients in the dish. Keep Egg-Shells. Crush your egg-shells with a rolling-pin until they are as fine as powder. Use this powder to remove the stains from enamel saucepans; tea stains from cups or teapot and fruit or other stains from white woodwork. For the stained saucepans or china dip a piece of flannel in the crushed egg-shell and rub a wet scrubbing brush in the powder and scrub vigorously. Fresh Mint a,nd Parsley. Mint and parsley will keep fresh longer if they are placed in earthenware jars. Never place them in the same jars, however, as one spoils the flavour of the other. Mint will chop more easily if a little sugar is sprinkled over it while chopping. Parsley will retain a better green colour if washed in hot water than if washed in cold. To Keep Meat Fresh. Put the meat into a hot oven and brown all over. Pour some melted lard or suet into a jar and roll the jar until the sides are coated to the depth of half an inch,--Put in the meat, taking care it does not touch the sides of the jar, and fill up with lard or suet until the meat is covered. Thus prepared the meat will remain fresh for a long time. Home Made Meat Safes. Should you have no proper meat safe you can make a simple one at little cost. Obtain a wooden box about Sin. deep and big enough to go over your largest meat dish.. Remove the lid and the bottom, so that only the sides remain. Scrub these well till clean, rub them down with sandpaper till smooth, and if desired, paint and enamel the wood white. Cut a square of book muslin a little larger than the top of the box, dip it in Avater, then stretch it over the box and pin to the edges Avith draAving pins. You will find this very successful for the purpose, and the muslin can easily be removed to be Avashed. Hanging meat safes with Avire frames and covers cost very little and save a good deal of meat Avaste, particularly if hung Avhere there is a current of air. On a very hot day it is a Avise precaution to Avipe over the meat' Avith a cloth dipped in vinegar as soon as it arrives from the butcher.