Posted in Homestead Kitchen
Lately, I keep missing my dish detergent that sits on my kitchen sink. Just a quick guess of where it could have vamooshed off to??--ah yes, my son just bought his first vehicle -- his dream truck - a white 4x4 Toyota -- and he washes it every chance he gets and is keeping it cleaner than a baby's tushie. I ended up putting a new bottle of dish soap on the sink and gave him the one he kept snitchin and told him to keep it in his truck washin' bucket.
Then my dear husband has been coming in on a regular basis with another son taggin' in behind him with hands that look like greasy soot! They have been putting a new transmission in our van - nasty, greasy work - so they keep snitchin' the new soap I put out as it is a nice bubbly, grease cutting formula. So I need to whip up a batch of this ole-timey hand cleaner - I found the recipe in an old recipe book from 1925. You will find it reprinted in my vintage homekeeping book "The Treasury of Vintage Homekeeeping Skills".
Here is the ole-timey "receipt":
Save all odds and ends of bar soap of every description. When enough has accumulated, break into small pieces and put through the food grater, using the medium cutter first, and then the fine cutter. To one cupful of this granulated soap add one and one-half cupfuls of cornmeal and put through the food chopper once again unti reduced to a coarse meal. This may be facilitated by rubbing between the hands to loosen the particles. When all will pass readily through a meal seive, add two tablespoons of olive oil to each two and one-half cupfuls of the soap and cornmeal mixture. Blend thoroughly. An ordinary fruit jar, with a rubber ring in place makes a good container. A quantity of this cleanser kept on the kitchen sink or in the washroom will be found invaluable for cleansing very soiled hands and keeping them soft and smooth. It is perfectly harmless and costs next to nothing!
This ole- timey recipe was discovered in "Good Housekeeping's Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries", printed in the year of 1925.
Happy Hand Washing!
Martha
Visit me at http://www.MarmeeDear.com
Helpmeet to Roger + Momma to 11 + Marmee to 2 GrandDears
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