Natural Food Tips
Get the last bit of shortening from the can by filling it with boiling water. After it cools, the shortening will rise to the top and harden.
Get the last of the chocolate syrup, pancake syrup, or corn syrup out of the bottle by putting it in the microwave oven for 10 seconds or so. Heat it with the top open to let it vent.
To ripen fruit quickly, put it into a bag along with one ripe piece of fruit. The ripe fruit gives off a little "ripening gas" called ethylene.
To prevent fruit from getting overripe, use Debbie Meyer Green Bags
, which absorb 97% of the ethylene gas.
Put a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to keep the ice cream from dripping out the bottom.
Soften brown sugar that has turned rock hard by cooking it in the microwave oven for a few seconds.
To get the most juice out of oranges, lemons, limes and other citrus fruits, place whole fruit in warm water for several minutes before juicing.
Before juicing a lemon, put it in the microwave for 10 seconds. You will get twice as much juice.
Rolling an orange or lemon under your hand a few times on the counter before cutting will produce more juice.
Don't throw away lemon or orange peels. Put them in a small bowl on the picnic table to keep bugs away.
To see if an egg is still fresh, put it into a glass bowl of water with a little salt. If the egg sinks, it is good. If it floats, it should not be used.
If honey becomes crystallized, warm it in the mocrowave oven or put the jar into a pan of boiling water for a few minutes. Stir afterward, and it will be as good as new for flavor -- but will no longer be any good for healing since heating kills its nutrients.
Make your own instant oatmeal by putting regular oatmeal in a blender. Smaller bits of oatmeal cook faster than larger ones. Save money, and yours doesn't come full of extra sugar.
Fruits and vegetables can be cleaned of pesticides and bacteria with Natural Apple Cider Vinegar
. Spray it on, wait 5 minutes, then rinse it off.
Or, use grapefruit seed extract
(30 drops of grapefruit seed oil to a quart of water in a spray bottle).
Keep salt from getting hard by putting a few grains of rice in your salt shaker.
Water will prevent the gas caused by eating beans. After boiling the dry beans in water, let them soak overnight (covered), remove the water, rinse the beans, and rinse the beans again - and then cook them in new water.
