Tomato stains

'Tis the season for tomatoes and their amazingly stainy juices.

At the risk of sounding like an 1950's housewife, I just have to share my discovery for getting tomato stains out:

very hot water
Oxo Brite (Earth Friendly brand's version of OxyClean)
hydrogen peroxide

Use about 2/3 hot water and mix the OxyBrite (about 1 scoop per quart of liquids) well to dissolve before adding the 1/3 hydrogen peroxide. I've made small batches in a cup and big ones in a tub. Soak until stains are gone (can take as long as overnight, but sometimes works in a few hours.)

I've now used this formula to clean tomato stains off plastic food containers, my dish scrubber, plastic cutting board and today it worked on my husband's white dress shirt AND removed the sweat stains and ring-around-the-collar to boot!* It has also removed stains from turmeric powder and other pigment-filled stuff that comes from messy cooking and clean up.

I am hoping I'm not the only one who has an obsession about their dish scrubber not being stained (yeah, :crazy:), which was the start of my experimentation to concoct a non-bleach solution to my OCD problem.



(*why do I suddenly feel like a TV commercial?)

The art and science of home making has been highly denigrated in recent decades.

I have been reading some old assorted notebooks and scrapbooks I have bought over the years at estate sales, where homemakers clipped all manner of household hints and pasted them in, or wrote down their remedies and methods. My god, how our lives have changed in the past hundred years! The daily life for the average woman consisted of so many dozens of tasks that required some specialized know-how.

And everything was SO well cared for. Repaired, re-done, restored, renewed. Just amazing.

I ought to compile a book from this stuff. Women who knew how to do EVERYTHING.

it will clean and was surprised that it actually couldn't handle the tomato.

We did steam-clean our rugs recently using just hot water and vinegar. Worked like a dream and no icky chemicals.

And you're right-- in a century we've gone from specialized know-how to specialized products (many of which don't work all that well and are destroying the planet.)

You should compile that book. :hi: