HINTS AND RECIPES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 276, 20 November 1937, Page 3

HINTS AND RECIPES

SOMETHING TO INTEREST THE HOUSEWIFE. When making jam, add one teaspoonful of glycerine to each pound of fruit. This will prevent crystallisation ,and the jam will keep better. A piece of clean chamois leather wrung out of cold water is the best duster for velvet or plush furniture. To remove brown stains from china, rub with a cloth moistened with vinegar and dipped in salt. Rinse and dry. Add a few drops of olive oil to the water when washing chamois gloves to help to keep them soft and supple. String can often be replaced by light weight wire with satisfactory results. Use a piece of wire for fastening a loop through the handles of brushes in place of string. It wears longer and will catch on to hooks with greater ease.

New brooms and brushes should be dipped in cold water, then hung up to dry, head upwards, for a week before use.

Stews and soups are improved by the addition of an apple cut in slices. When enamelling a bath, work with the tin of enamel standing in hot water. Don’t thin it with turpentine. When making starch on washing day, add it to the blue rinsing water, and the clothes will dry quicker, whiter, and will be nicely stiff when ironed. To keep the water fresh and sweet jin vases of cut flowers, add to it a small bit of sugar. This is successful even in the case of such blooms as wallflowers. Egg-whites left over from cooking can be used to garnish cold dishes and salads. Put them in a buttered jar, stand this in a saucepan of water and cook until the egg-whites are set. When cold, cut into dice or fancy shapes. If you have oak furniture which has grown shabby, rub it well with warm ale, and, when dry, polish with beeswax dissolved in turpentine. A Knitting Hint. Where turns are made there is usually a loose stitch. Pull the loop of this long stitch on the wrong side and neatly darn it down, so that the right side does not show any sign of a loose stitch. A Refreshing Drink. Iced tea with vanilla ice cream is a refreshing summer drink. The tea should be made rather stronger than usual. When it has stood for seven minutes pour it from the leaves, sweeten it to taste, and stand in the refrigerator for some hours. Serve in glasses with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream on top of each. If The Hands Arc Hot. Bathe the hands in a weak boracic solution, and when dry powder with talcum powder rubbing it well in. During the day put a few drops of toilet vinegar on the palms of the hands and rub well in. This should be done as often as possible. When a Shirt Has Rubber Thin Near The Collar. Cut out the back ot the double cuff and replace with plain material. This gives two pieces of matching material to insert in the front under the collar instead of an odd patch or darn. Cleaning Tennis Shoes. Tennis shoes of white buckskin or canvas will resist the dust more effectually if, after cleaning, they are rubber over with powdered pumice stone. If the wet cleansing medium is applied with a small sponge it will give more even appearance than the piece of rag usually employed. Pipeclap used for cleaning shoes does not rub off if mixed with milk instead of water. Look After The Dustbin. Always burn as much refuse as possible and keep the dustbin clean and free from offensive smells. In summer, when fires are not used, it is an economical plan to keep water in the copper and burn all paper and rubbish in the “coppcr-hoie.” By this means the housewife will get a good supply of hot water and, at the same time, all the matter likely to decay and become a source of disease will be destroyed. Any refuse which cannot be burnt in this way should be drained free from water and wrapped tightly in newspaper before being placed in the dustbin. Keep the dustbin well disinfected. Washing Woollens. Woollens should be washed in warm, not hot, water, never rubbed with soap. They should be rinsed in water of the same temperature and wrung and hung out to dry immediately. Hard water makes woollens thick and felted, so if the water is naturally hard it should be softened. Borax or ammonia can be used. Jams and Jellies. Plum Jam. —Required: Plums and sugar (3 pound to each pound of fruit). Wipe and stone the plums, cover with the sugar, leave 2.1 nours. Put the fruit and sugar into a preserving pan, bring to the boil, skim carefully, boil quickly until the jam looks clear and sets when tested in the usual way. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. Apple Jelly.—Cwt the apples into quarters without removing the peel, but taking out any unsound pans if you are using windfalls. Put into a preserving pan with cold water to come about half-way up the fruit, and cook until the apples are quite soft. Put the pulp into a jelly bag suspended over a bowl and leave to drain all night. Do not attempt to squeeze or the clearness of the jelly will be spoilt. Measure the juice, return to the pan and heat. Add a pound of loaf sugar and the strained juice of half a lemon to each pint of juice, bring to the boil, then boil fast until a little sets when tested on a saucer. Put into small glass jars, cover, and do not disturb until the preserve is set. Then store in a cool, dry place. Blackberry Jam. —Take 121 b. berries and 101 b. sugar. Steam all the berries until they are quite soft, or put them in stone jam jars placed in a big saucepan of boiling water. When done the fruit will be soft and swollen. Next boil half the quantity of berries and squeeze them through a muslin till all the juice is extracted. Add the juice to the remaining blackberries and stir in the sugar. Bring all to the boil and cook for about half an hour, or until I it sets when j