HINTS AND RECIPES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 246, 16 October 1937, Page 3

HINTS AND RECIPES

SOMETHING TO INTEREST THE HOUSEWIFE One part of borax to two of honey or glycerine is a splendid remedy for a sore throat. Equal parts of salt and lemon-juice will remove dust stains from fabric without injury. For coffee and grass stains apply a little glycerine with a cloth and remove with methylated spirits before washing. If you take fruit on a picnic see that it is not the squashy variety. Soft fruits do not travel well. All fruit, including tomatoes, should be packed so that it will not bruise easily. A good hint for keeping Hies away from the windows as well as give the glass a brilliant polish is to soak a clean, duster in paraffin oil, hang out to dry, then clean the windows well with it and polish with a soft cloth. If you mix blacklead with cold tea it makes a better polish—and one less liable to rub off. Always put ammonia in the water when washing blankets and woollies; it will help to prevent shrinkage. Knit a lew stitches for a child’s dress, then cast-off. Turn work upside down, pick up cast-on stitches and continue. You’ll find it easy then to lengthen the frock when necessary.

Rock ammonia used in washing-up water instead of common soda will not roughen the hands. When a sewing-machine has been used for making white or light-col-oured garments there are often stains left by machine oil. To remove them rub the marks with a cloth dipped m ammonia, and then wash with soap and water.

The next time you serve baked apples remove the core and fill them before cooking with butter, breadcrumbs, and blackberry jam. A wafer biscuit, placed on the plate before ice-cream is put on, will prevent the ice from melting quickly or slipping about on the dish.

How to Get the Full Flavour From Tea

Tea leaves have been thoroughly dried before they are packed and the full flavour cannot be extracted unless the leaves are allowed to become saturated with heat and moisture. Few omit to warm the teapot, but when the hot water has been poured away and the tea measured into the pot, the neck of the teapot should be held directly in the line of the steam from the boiling kettle for five seconds so that the steam uncurls tAa tea leaves. You will find that this increases the strength and flavour of the tea and will help to economise in the amount of tea used. For Mosquito Bites Mosquito bites can be prevented as a rule if all exposed parts of the skin are rubbed with oil of geranium, menthol, lavender, or eucalyptus. Boracic, in powder or lotion form, is an alternative for people who do not care to use oils, but it needs to be more frequently applied, as its effect is weaker. Bites once acquired should be rubbed with a lump of moistened soda or ammonia. The alkali in the, reduces irritation and swelling, besides helping to prevent possible blood poisoning. Chopped crystallised fruits, raisins or muscatels make an unusual addition to ice cream. Pot Pourri Gather all the scented flowers available, preferably roses, on a dry, sunny day. Remove the stalks and place the petals on trays to dry. Leave them for at least two days and when the petals are crisp place them in a jar with a handful each of thyme, rosemary, shredded bay leaves, sweet verbena, and "old man.” Pound together one pound of saltpetre, one nutmeg, one ounce each of allspice and cloves and six ounces of orris root. Mix everything thoroughly in the jar, or jars, which must have close-fitting lids. Delicious Ices and Iced Drinks Cream Ices.—Home-made ice-cream can be made in the following simple manner: Beat until stiff a 1 of a pint of cream and the whites of 2 eggs—in separate basins. Add 1 tablespoonful of icing sugar to the cream and a dash of flavouring to the white of egg. Mix together and freeze for four hours. No longer is it beyond the possibility of the middle-class hostess to serve ices and iced drinks on everyday occasions. If she is up-to-date and possesses a refrigerator, ices can appear on the menu every day in summer.

Orange Ice.—Boil two cups of sugar in four of water for five minutes, add two cups of orange juice and half a gill of lemon juice and grated rind of two oranges. Cool, strain and freeze.

Red Currant and Raspberry Squash. —Remove the stalks from a quart of red currants and i-pint of raspberries and bruise the fruit well. Cover with Jib loaf sugar and 2 quarts of cold water. Put all into a pan over low heat, stir until the sugar has melted, then, as soon as the mixture begins to simmer, remove from the fire end strain through a jeliy bag. If necessary, add more sugar. Leave until cold on ice. Serve m glass jugs, with ice. Pineapple Lemonade.—Take a small tin of pineapple and grate the pulp. Boil a cupful of sugar in a pint of water for ten minutes arid add to the pulp with the juice from the tin. Add the juice of three lemons and let it remain until cold. Then add a quart of cold water and put in the refrigerator until it is icy cold, then serve, garnished with a few pieces ci chopped pineapple.

Ice Cream Soda.—Cut small pieces of several kinds of fruit, put them into a basin with a sprinkling of sugar and lemon juice, and let them stand for an hour or longer. Then put a tablespoonful of this mixture into a tumbler with a portion of ice cream on top. Fill up with soda water and stir well.