HINTS AND RECIPES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18520, 18 March 1930, Page 3

HINTS AND RECIPES.

Linen table mats stained with fruit or gravy should be soaked in cold water for an hour or so before washing. Condensed milk will keep longer if the top of the tin is left open instead of being pressed down. To make breadcrumbs quickly cut the soft part from a stale loaf and tie up in a soft muslin bag. Then gently rub it with the hands for a few minutes. The crumbs will be fine enough for all requirements. When a room has been newly painted the smell of paint can be got rid of by placing a handful of hay in a pailful of water and leaving it in the room for a time. Dirty frying-pans can be cleaned without difficulty if they are soaked for five minutes in ammonia and water. To remove the skins of tomatoes rub them all over with the back of a knife to loosen the skins before peeling. This is better than scalding them. If you heat a lemon before you squeeze it you will get nearly double the amount of juice from it. Linoleum painted over with shellac gives a brillaint polish without causing a slippery surface, and obviat '3 the necessity of cleaning every day.

Handkerchiefs and white clothes that have become yellow may be whitened in the following simple manner: After they have been washed in the usual way, put them to soak overnight in clear water into which cream of tartar has been put. A teaspoonful to a quart of water is the right proportion. When ironed they will be quite white. When cooking haricot beans add salt to the water first, and they will cook in a third of the time, and will not need to be soaked overnight. Black stockings should be washed before they are worn in a warm lather to which a few drops of ammonia have been added. Afterwards rinse the stockings in cold water and dry them as quickly as possible. This will prevent the colour running. Before going into a steamy or moist atmosphere rub eyeglasses with soap and then polish them. It will be found that the moisture does ra»t rest on them.

A little salt mixed with mustard for table use will prevent the mustard hardening, but it must be moistened with milk instead of water.

Half a pint of paraffin mixed with half a pint of ordinary brown vinegar makes a good labour-saving cleanser and polisher. It can be used to polish furniture, tiles, marble, linoleum, and oilcloths, and any kind of paint work. Wash cut-glass articles in warm soda water, well lathered with soap, but do not rinse them. Put them in a zinc bath and cover with clean dry sawdust. Leave them for twenty-four hours, then take them out and polish with soft cloths. They will look brilliant.