HOUSEWIVES’ ALPHABET

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18832, 21 March 1931, Page 15 (Supplement)

HOUSEWIVES’ ALPHABET

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 be dried either in a cool oven or on a plate rack, and should take 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. Coaldust can be used up by making It into briquettes or balls. Mix six shovelfuls of the coaldust with water until a thick paste is formed, then add six handfuls of coarse salt. Stir well, and shape into balls, or else fill tin moulds with the mixture and turn out on to a board or plank. Leave for 12 hours to dry. Another method is to rub all waste tea leaves and vegetable refuse through a sieve and mix in enough coaldust to form a sufficiently stiff mixture to shape into bricks. Leave until dry, then soak in coal tar and again dry. 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 rollingpin 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 lquids, such as paraffin. Fires will light easily if a cinder is soaked overnight in paraffi i 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 records. ,

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 ths 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 has 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 vineger 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 fiat 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. PLUM JELLY CREAM. Stalk and wash lilb. of plums, and put them in a pan with three-quarters of a pint of water and the thinly pared rind of half a lemon; stew gently until they are soft. Rub through a hairsieve. and put the pulp back into the pan with *lb. of lump sugar, and simmer for 15 minutes. Then leave until cold. Melt £oz. of isinglass in half pint of milk, and strain it into the plum pulp. Use this to fill a fancy mould and four egg-cups. Leave until set. Turn out on to a dish. Whip one gill of cream and fill half a dozen meringue cases with some of it. Arrange these around the jelly alternately with a little cream. As the jelly takes some time to set firmly, it is well to make this a day before it is required.

TOMATO CHUTNEY. Boil 121 b. tomatoes until soft, then press them through a colander; add to this Mb. salt, 31b. sugar, IMb. onions (.cut very fine), 61b. apples (pared and cored;, 2soz. cayenne pepper, koz. cloves, loz. allspice, 1£ pints vinegar, 11b. sultanas. Let all simmer for six hours, and when cool bottle. Put cloves and allspce in a little muslin bag so that only the flavour goes through it.