INFORMATION EXCHANGED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23012, 13 April 1938, Page 7

INFORMATION EXCHANGED

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS BY FEMINA E.B. (Hamilton) would be grateful for a method of cleaning a navy felt hat. It is not stained but just "dusty ' in appearance. Pine Gum Stains Saturate the stained parts well with a little turpentine. Then lay the garment aside for a little while after which it should bo washed out with cold soap and water without undue rubbing. Other methods inoludo sponging with benzine, ether, chloroform or methylated spirits. A method sent in by a reader from Frankton Junction, which contains a trade name, has been sent direct to the inquirer. Small Coffee Cs.kes

"M.H." sends in the following recipe:—Beat to a cream fib. butter and 1$ cups brown sugar. Stir in four eggs one at a time unbeaten and when the last is worked in beat well together for 10 minutes. Then stir in J cup of milk followed by 4 cup of hot water which has been allowed to percolate through loz of coffee for about 15 minutes, putting it through several times to extract as much as possible. Ihen sift in lightly 3 cups of flour and 14 teaspoonsful baking powder mixed. Place at once in small greased tins or paper cups and bake 10 to 10 minutes in a good oven. Cover with a cloth until cool, then cover with the following icing, setting a blanched almond on top before the icing sets firmly: Pass jjlb. icing through a sieve. Mix it then with tablespoon;ful of strong liquid coffee. Stir on lire till just warm, then spread ou the cakes at once. Parsnip Wins

Reasons why parsnip wine has lost its sweetness are given by M.H._ in answer to a correspondent s inquiry. One reason she thinks, might be due to the fact that perhaps the bung hole was not closed tightly when the wine was put in the cask or else that the cask was closed down after fermentation had taken place. Small quantities of air might have got in thereby and so have helped the wine, to change slowly into vinegar. Placing the cask in a warm or close room would aid this change to take place. After fermentation the cask should be placed in a cool airy spot. To Add sugar to the cask would be helpful in sweetening tlie wine but this should be done while ensuring that the cask was full when finished, to the limit, as if air were to get into any space left over, a further fermentation with the help of the sugar would only make matters worse. M.H. further suggests adding a little brandy and sugar, then plugging the cask securely and placing in a cool spot. Another method was £o soak a cloth in brandy, place it over the bunghole and then press the bung on top of it very loosely, leaving the cask so t for a few days in as cool a spot as possible. If in about two weeks' time it has not quite ceased fermentation and becomes light, and clear again, rack it off into a clean cask in which a little sulphur has been burned. Stir into this fresh cask the beaten white of an egg. ©keep bunged loosely. As soon as it clears, however, tightly bung the cask and keep in a cool place.