July 30, 2007 | Kitchen, Cleaning tips
Cornmeal. It’s one of my favorite things in the kitchen. Being married to a Moldovan, we eat mamaliga (polenta-esque) pretty frequently (though I have to admit - I just can’t get it right!). And I use it on my pizza pan to keep the crust from sticking as it bakes.
But it has a great cleaning use too! It absorbs grease. If you’ve got a grease stain on upholstered furniture, carpet, or a seat cushion, put a teaspoon or so of cornmeal on it (more for a bigger stain), let it sit for 15-20 minutes, and vacuum up. The cornmeal will absorb the grease and leave your upholstery grease-free.
For clothes I wouldn’t recommend cornmeal though. It’s easier to launder correctly. Apply some liquid laundry detergent (or your favorite multi-purpose stain remover), let it sit for a few minutes, then wash it in the hottest water the fabric will tolerate. Knowing that a few years ago would have saved me oodles of shirts. But, 20/20 hindsight, right? At least I can rescue your laundry!
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Lisa says:
I will have to say Grease Stains are my Number One Laundry Annoyance. It would help if I wore an apron. But that takes time, you see.
And I’d much rather spend that time in the laundry room scrubbing out grease, yessirree.
I use Dawn dish soap on my clothing grease stains now. Seems to work.
Thanks for the cornmeal tip!
July 30th, 2007 at 9:48 pmcarrie says:
I couldn’t help but notice your mention of being married to a Moldovan. One of our close friends travels there (and Romania) twice a year–in fact, he’s leaving for there today! His family is hosting an 18 year-old from Moldova for a couple years–she has a handicap from an electrical accident and will hopefully be getting surgery in the U.S. soon.
Thanks for all your wonderful natural cleaning tips!
August 7th, 2007 at 9:06 am