Outrageous Ingredient Uses

[xxchef]

An article in Popular Science out today outlined some newly discovered, near-sci-fi uses for some common cooking ingredients like turmeric and cinnamon.

I've heard crazy stories about using Coca-Cola as a rust-buster, blood remover, engine cleaner etc (facts or urban myths?) since I was a kid.

What other outrageous applications for common ingredients are there?

[Mjx]

Hah! All you have to do is glance through many women's magazines/beauty culture books, to find all sorts of alternate uses for kitchen ingredients.

Coffee grounds combined with brown sugar do, as claimed, make a decent, cheap skin exfoliant, if you don't mind the colossal mess in the shower, and picking coffee grounds from your hairline for the next day or so. Not certain that 'messy' is analagous to 'outrageous', however.

Also, according to a Japanese lab partner I once had, in Japan bathing in sake is believed to detoxify the skin, a vague claim which always makes me sceptical. However, regardless of whether or not it detoxifies, I can definitely state (scepticism being the mother of experiments, for me) that a bottle of cheap sake in a tubful of hot water will get you frighteningly smashed in no time flat (and removes soapy deposits form porcelain!).

I've also heard that peanut butter can be used to remove gum from hair and clothing... does anybody know whther this works?

[dcarch]

Baking soda as deodorizer.

The biggest scam ever.

dcarch

[natasha1270]

I remember reading the ghost chili is being developed into tear gas hand grenades in India.

[Mjx]

Baking soda as deodorizer.

The biggest scam ever.

dcarch

The box in the fridge thing? Definitely.

But if you make a thin paste of it, and apply it to a cutting board, for example, it's actually pretty effective (more than just washing with dish soap).

[liuzhou]

Baking soda as deodorizer.

The biggest scam ever.

Baking soda definitely works as a deodorizer. What are you doing wrong? Snorting it?

[Genkinaonna]

As the former director of a preschool, I can tell you that vegetable oil works the best for getting gum (or silly putty) out of hair. We were a peanut free facility so I can't speak to the peanut butter. I'll get back to you when my own kids are old enough to chew gum, I'm reasonably sure it will come up.

[dcarch]

Baking soda as deodorizer.

The biggest scam ever.

Baking soda definitely works as a deodorizer. What are you doing wrong? Snorting it?

You can "deodorize" by masking with another scent. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) cannot.

You can deodorize by absorption of air molecules, such as activated charcoal; Sodium bicarbonate has no ability to absorb.

It can, however, possibly deodorize stinky shoes by direct application to neutralize the offending source if it is of acid based.

dcarch

Edited March 26, 2011 by dcarch (log)

[liuzhou]

From time to time, I buy Nescafé instant coffee (yes, I know I shouldn't). When the jars are empty, I find the jars useful as storage containers. I wash them with hot soapy water, rinse them carefully, then dry them in the sun.

They still smell bad. Fill them up with with water and baking soda, leave overnight, then dry and there is no discernible smell.

I'm sorry, but your pseudo-scientific, self contradictory refutation doesn't quite cut the mustard.

[Mjx]

Baking soda as deodorizer.

The biggest scam ever.

Baking soda definitely works as a deodorizer. What are you doing wrong? Snorting it?

You can "deodorize" by masking with another scent. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) cannot.

You can deodorize by absorption of air molecules, such as activated charcoal; Sodium bicarbonate has no ability to absorb.

It can, however, possibly deodorize stinky shoes by direct application to neutralize the offending source if it is of acid based.

dcarch

There was a discussion in CI about the effectiveness of baking soda paste on cutting boards that smelled of onion/garlic. That is, they actually experimented, and found it effective for this purpose (I have no recollection of the mechanism involved, but I believe they described it, at least in general outline). I'm quailing at the thought of looking thought several dozen issues of CI, but I can look it out, if you want..?

[dcarch]

That is entirely possible. Sodium bicarbonate is chemically basic, and it can neutralize acidic chemicals, or react and alter other chemicals, rendering them less odious. But that is not deodorizing the air.

dcarch

[Mjx]

That is entirely possible. Sodium bicarbonate is chemically basic, and it can neutralize acidic chemicals, or react and alter other chemicals, rendering them less odious. But that is not deodorizing the air.

dcarch

Yep... what I said (and had a massive fight with my mother about, a week ago) at the top, the 'box-in-the-fridge' thing is a no-go. But I'd bet its sells the majority of boxes of baking soda!

[Peter the eater]

I remember reading the ghost chili is being developed into tear gas hand grenades in India.

Interesting. I've got a pack those of seeds just starting to sprout under my lamps. I'll be making hot sauce not weapons.

[andiesenji]

Hah! All you have to do is glance through many women's magazines/beauty culture books, to find all sorts of alternate uses for kitchen ingredients.

I've also heard that peanut butter can be used to remove gum from hair and clothing... does anybody know whther this works?

I tried it once (my kids seemed to have a severe problem with controlling bubble gum) but the resulting mess was also a pain to clean.

I then began using Avon's Skin-So-Soft bath oil. Much easier to apply and to clean up.

I use cornstarch to take grease out of the carpet and to "extract" residual spilled liquids from carpet after the use of a wet/dry vac.

If you have only one spice grinder - and use it for coffee or other oily material - you can clean and deodorize it with the following procedure.

Put three tablespoons or so of baking soda in the spice grinder.

Add 4 or 5 broken saltine crackers - you can also use rice.

Put the lid on and start the grinder - invert it (holding the top on firmly) several times.

Dump out the stuff, wipe it with a dry paper towel and check. If you have used it for a long time for grinding coffee beans, you may have to repeat this procedure but it will clean the grinder without using water and will remove all traces of the oils that tend to build up around the base of the grinder blades.

I used this method for years before I decided that since these grinders were so small and so cheap, I could have dedicated ones for each type of product.

Edited March 26, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Beebs]

Some runners consume baking soda to enhance their speed and as an electrolyte. Yuck. Sounds appallingly vile.

[Jenni]

Don't know what else it does, but baking soda is good if you have heartburn! 1/2-1 tsp in a glass of warm water does the trick.