Surprising Uses for Salt

From: MOHAMED JOHARI BIN MOHAMED SIDEK
Date: Friday, February 22, 2008, 7:38 AM

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Mankind has been using salt for many centuries, in the course of which
we've amassed many uses (some speculate thousands) for this amazing
substance -- uses that go far beyond mere seasoning. Here are a few of the more
practical ones:

                                          

* Pick up a dropped egg. If an egg breaks on the kitchen floor, sprinkle salt
on the mess and leave it there for 20 minutes.
You'll be able to wipe it
right up.

* Soothe a bee sting. Wet the sting right away, then cover it with salt.

* Eliminate a grease fire. Pour salt on top to smother it. (Never use water on
a grease fire.)

* Clean up oven spills. If food boils over onto the oven floor, sprinkle salt
on top to stop smoke and odor from forming. When the oven is cool, it'll be
easy to brush away the spot.

* Set color. If a dye may run, soak the garment for an hour in 1/2 gallon of
water to which you've added 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup salt. If rinse
water shows color, repeat. This is good for a single-colored fabric or madras.
If the item is multicolored, dry-clean it. (Although American-made fabrics are
unlikely to run, fabrics from abroad are sometimes iffy.)

* Kill poison ivy. Add three pounds of salt to a gallon of soapy water. Spray
it onto leaves and stems.

* Make cream whip more easily and egg
whites whip faster and higher. Add a
pinch of salt.

* Test for rotten eggs. Put an egg in a cup of water to which you've added
two teaspoons of salt. A fresh egg will sink, but one that's iffy will
float.

* Clean the brown spots (from starch) off a non-stick soleplate (the bottom of
your iron). Sprinkle salt on a sheet of waxed paper, slide the iron across it,
then rub lightly with silver polish.

* Repel fleas. Wash the doghouse with it.

* Kill grass growing in cracks in the cement or between patio stones. Sprinkle
salt on the grass and pour very hot water over it. Or sprinkle coarse salt on
the grass, let stand all day or overnight, then pour hot tap water over it.

* Clean a glass coffee pot. Fill it with a quarter-cup of table salt and a
dozen ice cubes. Swish the mixture around, let it sit for half an hour, fill it
with cold water and rinse.

* Halt the mountain of suds from an
overflowing washing machine. Sprinkle salt
on the top.

* Clean artificial flowers. Put them in a bag of salt and shake the bag. Take a
look at the color of the salt and you'll see what you've accomplished.

* Keep windows frost-free. Dip a sponge into salt water and rub it on windows,
and they won't frost up even when the mercury dips below 32 degrees; for
the same effect on your car's windshield, put salt in a little bag made of
cheesecloth, moisten it slightly and rub it on.

* Clean tarnished copper.Fill a 16-ounce spray bottle with hot white vinegar
and three tablespoons of salt. Spray it onto the copper, let it sit briefly,
then rub clean. (Don't do this to lacquered copper.)

* Keep radishes safe in the garden. Salt worms (cutworms) will be repelled if
you sprinkle seeds with table salt, then cover with dirt.

* Clean coffee and tea stains from china cups. Rub them with salt.

*
 Keep potatoes and apples from turning brown once they're sliced. Put them
in salted cold water.

* Clean a cutting board. Cover it with bleach and salt, scrub it with a stiff
brush, then rinse with very hot water and wipe with a clean cloth. Repeat with
each