Although doctors and nutritionists advise controlling your salt intake, there are many other ways in which you can put it to good use. Some simple and useful ideas:
1. Add 1 cup of salt to your laundry load when washing deep-colored fabric or towels, for the first few times. The saline solution helps set the pigment, so that color doesn’t bleed and clothes don’t fade.
2. If you’ve just bought shower curtains, soak them for a few hours in your bathtub in about 4 inches of water and a cup of salt. Then hang the liner without drying it. The salt forms an invisible coating on the shower curtain, protecting it from mildew. Repeat this treatment every three months for best results.
3. Mix one tsp. of salt with 1 cup of water. Dip a cloth napkin in this solution, wring it and wrap it around leftover wedges of cheese. Put the wrapped cheese in the refrigerator. Thanks to the salt crystals, your cheese will stay mold-free!
4. Got gunk on your steam iron? Spread out a sheet of wax paper, and sprinkle some salt over it. Now heat your iron for a couple of minutes, switch off the steam setting, and run it over the wax paper. The sticky residue will come off easily, thanks to the abrasive salt granules and the heat.
5. Salt is a natural anti-microbial agent. If you add a pinch or two of it to the water in your flower vase, the blooms will stay fresh longer.
6. Mix a little salt with sesame oil or mustard oil in the center of your palm. Now dip your finger into the salted oil, and give your gums a gentle massage with it. The result: strong gums and shiny pearls!
7. Rinsing your mouth with salted water brings relief from toothache, even if only for a while. That’s because salt draws out the germs from an abcess and drains it away. The result: relief!
8. Salt also assuages minor burns. Make a thick paste of salt and water and apply it all over the affected area. The inflammation will reduce quickly.
9. Come summer, and ants start creepin’ up window sills. Sprinkling a little salt keeps them away.
10. Soak walnuts and pecans in salted water for a couple of hours, and you’ll find that they shell more easily.
BDST: 0921 HRS, JUN 16, 2012
Edited by: Tilka Binte Mehtab, Newsroom Editor
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