House & Garden: Salt works! A pantry staple reigns supreme for countless household uses

Shout it out, spray it on. Commercial products seduce us with promises to clean whatever mess we've made. But before you give in to that siren's song, try salt. This inexpensive

Friday, February 25th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Shout it out, spray it on.

Commercial products seduce us with promises to clean whatever mess we've made. But before you give in to that siren's song, try salt.
This inexpensive pantry staple removes stains and odors, dandruff and tarnish. It deodorizes sneakers and cleans piano keys. Salt makers say it has more than 14,000 uses, many of them discovered and used by ingenious homemakers.

Did you know, for instance, that if you spill an egg on the floor, you can sprinkle salt on it, walk away and later sweep it up with a dustpan? "I do it all the time," says Jearldean McGinnis, a Panama City, Fla., homemaker who sends her tips to the Better Homes and Gardens Web site.

Ms. McGinnis isn't the only one who loves salt tips. The idea of using well-known products in unexpected ways so enchanted Joey Green that he quit his advertising job and wrote four books on the subject, including Polish Your Furniture with Panty Hose (Hyperion; $9).
"What fascinates me most is finding a use for a product I already have," he says.

Heloise, author of eight books and a 40-year-old syndicated newspaper column, Hints from Heloise, which is published in the Today section of The Dallas Morning News, makes a living writing about housecleaning solutions. It's a topic that fascinates readers who send her 200 to 400 questions a day by e-mail.
"There are two reasons why people want to clean with household items like salt, baking soda and vinegar," Heloise says. "They're cheaper. And nine times out of 10, they're more environmentally friendly and safer to have around than a bunch of chemicals, especially with small children."

Although salt is an inexpensive product today, it wasn't advertised for household use until the early 1900s. Previously, the cost of transporting salt had kept the price high. But when salt makers began shipping by rail, the price plummeted from $5 to $7 a barrel to $1.25, says Carol Litchfield of the International Commission for the History of Salt. Salt makers were anxious for people to buy more, so more uses were suggested.

In 1911, Morton Salt added magnesium carbonate, an anti-caking agent, to create a free-running salt. They decided to promote the new product, which was packaged in a cardboard canister with a pouring spout. Morton published a series of ads in Good Housekeeping magazine in 1914 that featured a little girl holding an umbrella and carrying the salt container along with the now famous slogan, "When It Rains It Pours."

After World War I, salt makers published pamphlets containing household hints and distributed them at the world fairs and expositions for publicity.

"When the first Heloise column appeared in 1959, it was a really big deal," Dr. Litchfield says. By that time, she says, there was a lot of interest in using common household products as cleaning agents.

Today, people are still using salt, baking soda and vinegar to cure many household woes.

Here are 20 remedies to try, gathered from sources such as the Salt Institute, Morton Salt, Heloise, Mr. Green and a few savvy homemakers.

Kitchens

Glass coffeepots: "Put two tablespoons of salt and about eight ice cubes in your glass coffee pot," Ms. McGinnis says. "Put the top back on and whirl the mixture around. The salt acts like an abrasive, and your coffee pot is nice and clean."

Grease fires: Smother the flames with salt. Never use water; it spatters the burning grease.

Tarnished copper pans: "Sprinkle salt and a few drops of vinegar on your copper pans, then use your fingers or a brush to swirl it together until the tarnish comes off," says Joyce Mueller, a San Antonio homemaker who has been cleaning copper this way for 40 years.

Refrigerator odors: Cut a lemon in half, core it and fill with salt. Place lemons in the refrigerator to absorb odors.

Drain cleaner: Pour strong salt brine (salt dissolved in water) down the kitchen sink to get rid of odors and keep grease from building up.

Bathrooms

Sore-throat relief: Gargle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt mixed in an 8-ounce glass of warm water to relieve pain.

Dandruff: Massage 1 tablespoon of salt into dry hair and shampoo, Mr. Green says.

Dry-skin removal: Massage wet skin with dry salt. It removes dead skin and aids in circulation.

Furniture

Water rings on wood: To remove white rings left from wet glasses or hot dishes, rub a thin paste of salad oil and salt on the spot with your fingers. Let it stand an hour or more, then wipe it off.

Stains on piano keys: Place salt and lemon juice on a soft cloth and rub the piano keys to remove stains. This also works on ivory and marble.

Prevent wicker from yellowing: Scrub wicker furniture with a stiff brush moistened with warm salt water and let it dry in the sun.

Other uses

Spills: If you spill wine, gravy, grease or even salsa on a tablecloth, you don't have to whip the tablecloth right off, Heloise says.
"Sprinkle the area with table salt. It will absorb most of the stain. Then launder later."
For red wine on carpet, blot as much as possible and cover it immediately with salt. "It sucks it right out of the carpet while the wine is wet," Mr. Green says. Scrape the salt from the rug and vacuum.

Silk-flower cleaner: Pour a cup of salt into a bag; then add silk flowers. Shake the bag and pull out the flowers. The salt will remove most of the dust.

Cleaning fish tanks: Scrub an empty fish aquarium with noniodized (plain) salt and a pot scrubber to remove mineral deposits. Rinse well with distilled water before returning the fish to the tank.

Drip-proof candles: Soak new candles in a strong salt solution for a few hours. Dry them well. When burned, they won't drip.

Matching nylons: Boil mismatched nylons in lightly salted water for a few minutes and they will come out the same color.

Perspiration-stain removal: Add 4 tablespoons salt to 1 quart of hot water. Sponge the fabric with the mixture until the stains disappear.

Rust and mildew stain removal: Mix salt and lemon juice, moisten the stained spot and leave it in the sun. Rinse and dry.

Rust removal: Make a paste with 6 tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Rub it on the rusted area with a dry cloth. Rinse and dry.

Sneaker deodorizer: Sprinkle salt in canvas shoes to absorb moisture and eliminate odor.

For more household hints and information, check out the following Web sites: www.mortonsalt.com, www.heloise.com, www.wackyuses.com, www.saltinstitute.org/29.html.