KITCHEN TIPS

Cleaning with Food

by Catherine Jheon

Here are some common household items that work as natural cleaning products.

Besides making food delicious, everyday ingredients such as salt, baking soda and lemons can do double duty as cleaning agents. Use them to mop up stubborn stains, deodorize your fridge or to polish your shoes. Here are some common household items that work as natural cleansing products.

Baking Soda
Sodium bicarbonate, more commonly known as baking soda, is used to help dough rise when baking but it also makes a great deodorizer. Place an open box in the refrigerator and freezer to absorb odors. Baking soda causes dirt and grease to dissolve in water, so it is very effective in cleaning kitchen counter tops, refrigerators, and stove tops. When sprinkled on a sponge or dishrag, baking soda forms a mild, abrasive scouring powder.

Club Soda
This carbonated beverage works well in a mixed drink but it’s also effective in removing stains. The bubbling effect in club soda lifts stains much like bubbling detergent. Use it to remove coffee stains from mugs, clothing stains or stains for silver. People often say club soda and salt prevented red wine stains from setting but this was recently proven to be a myth. You can, however, use it to clean countertops and fixtures.

Cream of Tartar
Cream of tartar is often used to stabilize egg whites, increasing their heat tolerance and volume, but when combined with vinegar, it becomes a powerful cleaning agent. Use the mixture to clean encrusted pots, pans and stove tops.

Corn Starch
Cornstarch is often used as a thickener in cooking but you can use it to sop up grease and oil. Cover the stain with cornstarch. Let it sit for 15 to 30 minutes then vacuum.

Lemon Juice
Lemon juice makes for a great cleaner. Use it to dissolve soap scum and hard water deposits, to clean and shine brass and copper and as a natural bleach. Cut a lemon in half and sprinkle baking soda on the cut section. Use it to scrub dishes, surfaces, and stains.
 

Mix 1 cup olive oil with ½ cup lemon juice to make a furniture polish for your hardwood furniture. Whiten your clothes by adding lemon juice to your wash water. Use lemon diluted in hot water to clean greasy wooden surfaces. To clean brass or silver, mix lemon juice and baking soda or cream of tartar into a paste with the same consistency as toothpaste. Rub onto brass with a soft cloth. Rinse with water and dry. Clean plastic containers stained with tomato sauce by rubbing the discoloured plastic container with lemon juice and then let them sit in the sun for a day. The sun and the lemon juice will bleach the plastic back to its original colour.

Salt
Not only does salt enhance the flavour in food, it’s also good for stains caused by red wine, tomato sauce and even blood. For wine stains, cover with salt to absorb the excess wine, and then rinse with cold water. For non-washables, scrape up the salt and vacuum the spot. For blood stains, soak the stained cloth item in cold saltwater, then wash in warm, soapy water and boil after the wash. This method works on cotton, linen or other natural fibers that can take the high heat. Remove white rings left on tables from wet or hot dishes or glasses by rubbing a thin paste of salad oil and salt on the spot with your fingers. Let it stand an hour or two, then wipe it clean. Take a big handful of salt, preferably coarse, and sprinkle surface of your wooden chopping board. Scrub the board with the cut side of a lemon half. The abrasive salt will scour the wood, and the lemon dissolves grease. You can also substitute white vinegar for lemon.

Vegetable Oil
Here’s a tip for shining up scuffed shoes in a pinch. Use a damp cloth to wipe away dirt, then apply a small drop of vegetable oil to a soft cloth and rub the surface to remove scuff marks.

White Vinegar
White vinegar is the all purpose, natural household cleaning agent. It is safe to use on most surfaces and has the added bonus of being cheap. Mix equal parts water to vinegar in a spray bottle and you have a solution that will clean most areas of your home. Not on does it clean, it also disinfects, deodorizes and bleaches. Mix one part white vinegar with one part water for a homemade bleach solution that will fade stains like wine, coffee and tomato sauce. Use an eyedropper or a Q-tip to make sure the bleach goes only on the stain. Remove mineral deposits from coffee makers with white vinegar. Fill the water reservoir with 1 cup or more of white distilled vinegar and run it through a whole cycle. Run it once or twice more with plain water to rinse clean. Remove stains from coffee and teacups by scrubbing them gently with equal parts of salt (or baking soda) and white distilled vinegar. Rinse clean. For stained and smelly plastic food containers wipe them with a cloth dampened with white distilled vinegar.

Source: Food TV

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Remedies from the kitchen

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away and while this may not be necessarily true, there are in fact foods that can help limit trips to your M.D.

So, the next time your child complains of aches and pains, take a look around the house for these home-remedy ingredients before running off to the doc!

Tea
Teabags are an eye’s best friend. Placing cold, used teabags over closed eyelids can help eliminate eye infections such as pink eye and sties. Dipping the teabags in witch hazel can also help irritated peepers. Chamomile tea is great for soothing sunburns. Soak a sponge in cool chamomile tea and rub the problem areas, or put the tea in a spray bottle and give sunburned spots a little spritz

Safety Note: if your child has pollen allergies, you should avoid chamomile tea.

Oatmeal
Sure, when you add a little cinnamon to oatmeal, it can be a yummy breakfast food, but oats are also an excellent way to soothe irritating rashes like poison ivy or chicken pox. A great cure for these itchy afflictions is to have an oatmeal bath. Add a cup of oats to bath water (make sure it isn’t instant oatmeal, or you will have a very thick bath!) or place oats into a thin fabric bag and wash over the itchy bumps. Afterwards, create an oatmeal paste with oats and milk and apply it to affected areas.

Potatoes
Some like them mashed and others like them baked, but potatoes have another purpose other than just being a side dish. Raw potato can help cure warts. Slicing up a potato and rubbing it on the wart several times a day will help make the bump disappear. Be sure to throw the potato piece away and do not reuse it, as warts can spread easily.

Cloves
Toothaches can be unbearable, but instead of rushing off to the drugstore to buy the latest product that might not work, use ground cloves to ease the pain. Cloves are a popular item in most spice racks, so there is a good chance you’ll already have this pain-reliever stashed away. Simply crush them up and apply to the affected tooth. Clove oil also works well, but is less common in households.

Powdered Mustard
Mix powdered mustard with flour, add a little bit of water and make a good paste. Spread the paste on a tea towel or cloth. Then, fold the cloth over and place it on your child’s chest or throat. The burning of the mustard miraculously helps to stop irksome coughing. Be sure to remove the cloth if skin becomes irritated or burns.

Honey and Lemon
Most kids cringe at the thought of having to drink down bitter, awful cough syrup. The cherry and grape flavours in the store aren’t all that appetizing after all. Instead of the syrupy sweet stuff, give your child some honey with lemon. It tastes much better and helps to eliminate coughs and soothe sore throats. Adding some onion or garlic is always an option (although they may not be as keen on this addition!).

Onions
Though onions usually make you cry, when it comes to bee stings they may actually help stop the tears. Applying a freshly cut onion to a bee sting or other bug bite helps relieve pain. In a pinch, onions can also be used to treat hives. Steeping some onions and honey together makes an effective cough syrup as well. Breathing in the onion fumes as they are boiling can also help to clear up chest congestion.

Olive Oil
When your child comes to you complaining of an earache, some olive oil just might be the solution. Put a little oil in a container and place the container in boiling water to heat it. Place a few drops of olive oil (you can also use garlic oil) on a cotton ball and place it in the ear, or put a drop or two in the ear and cover with a cotton ball. The cotton should be left on for 10 - 15 minutes. The heat will help to draw out unwanted liquid in the ear.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is a miracle substance with all kinds of uses. First, it’s great for cuts and scrapes. Applying a small amount to the latest skateboarding or biking injury will help fight infection and speed up the healing process. Second, using 3 or 4 drops can help clear up swimmer’s ear—a common problem with the younger set. The vinegar will disinfect and dry the ear out, eliminating itching and pain. Finally, placing a little daub of apple cider vinegar onto a cold sore can help heal it. The vinegar should be applied several times a day to assist with healing.

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Everything but the kitchen sink...

Generally speaking, your kitchen sink has a far greater concentration of bacteria than your bathroom toilet. If that alone isn't enough to prompt you to sanitize it regularly, consider this: of all the things you touch in your home on an average day, from the cat's collar to the TV remote, food is the biggest culprit in terms of germ transmission. It's not just bacteria either, but toxins, viruses and even parasites including

The solution? Sanitize your sink and sink area every day. I use a simple solution of 1 L of water combined with 2 tbsp of bleach and keep it in a spray bottle under the sink for easy access. I also add about 1 tbsp of lemon juice to help cut through grease. Do not expect the mere application of this solution to do the trick. Bacteria typically thrive in a protective film, so for effective sanitization, let solution sit on sink and counter surfaces for 30 seconds or so and then wipe area clean with a cloth or sponge.

In addition, ensure that sponges, brushes and dish cloths are dried thoroughly between uses. If they are not dried, the moisture in them acts as a breeding ground for bacteria. Brushes and sponges can also be put in the dishwasher (top rack only) every so often to be disinfected. For drying, simply hang cloths over the barrier between sinks or over the faucet.

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