Reader's Questions: Peppers, Hats & Teapots!

After winter comes the summer. After night comes the dawn. And after every storm, there comes clear, open skies. ~Samuel Rutherford

Today I have three great questions, totally unrelated to each other but very useful:)

We are having an overabundance of hot peppers and I really would like to freeze some, can you suggest a way to do this? The Bell Peppers I core and dice and bag, with a machine that draws out the air. I just do not know if I should leave hot ones whole or core also? Should I blanch or not? ~Barbara

I froze whole peppers last year, but have froze cut ones too and it's worked great. You don't need to blanch, just wash and stem the hot peppers. Then you can package the peppers, leaving no headspace, seal them and freeze. You can cut or chop hot peppers before freezing, but you don't have to. You probably know this, but remember to wear rubber gloves and don't touch your face when working with the peppers. I know this from experience:)

I have always had trouble getting salt stains out of my fitted hats. I like to wear dark blue fitted hats, but the salt stains from the sweating that occurs inevitably renders the hat unwearable. If you have any methods to getting these salt stains out of a fitted baseball cap, please share. ~Matt

I know this can be a big problems, especially for guys that work in hats or play sports in hot weather. Try soaking the hat in HOT water (boiling) mixed with Oxyclean. You may need to weight the hat or hats down with a pan. Let the really dirty hats soak overnight, then wash in the washing machine using one of the plastic hat "cages". This should work, but you may want to test a small part of the hat for colorfastness first.

I purchased a teapot that had a crack in the lid on the underside. I purchased the pot at a very reduced rate, it's very beautiful...anyway, I was wondering is there a glue that I could use on it to keep it from cracking any further? ~Donna

I did some checking and many of the methods were extremely complicated and would risk damaging the teapot even more. I did find mention of placing the piece in milk, then simmering it gently (the crack fully covered) for 45 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and cool the milk with the teapot still immersed. At this point remove, then wash and dry as usual.

The only thing I could find was using a putty called "plastico rok" for covering the crack. It apparently dries as hard as china and is white and smooth. You may be able to put this on the inside of the pot where the crack is. It's an artist's compound and you might be able to get it at an art store.

We have poison ivy tips and remedies on OFL:
http://www.oldfashionedliving.com/poisonivy.html

~Brenda