Laundry myths

Doing laundry is always a learning experience. Should you wash your clothes in warm water? Do all-purpose cleaners work for all stains? Read on to hear from laundry experts on what you should (and shouldn’t) be doing to your clothes. Then, find out the common laundry mistakes you should avoid.

More detergent means cleaner clothes

One popular myth you’ve probably heard is that using more detergent means cleaner clothes. However, the truth may be a bit different. “Using more detergent doesn’t make it work extra hard. Instead, it can leave residue on your clothes,” Brian Sansoni, Senior Vice President, Communications, Outreach & Membership, American Cleaning Institute, tells our sister site, Reader’s Digest. “You’ll probably just need to wash them again and over time these extra washings can make them wear out faster. Check the detergent label for how much detergent to use for your size load and washer, especially since many these days are concentrated.” If you’re not sure, be on the lookout for some of these tell-tale signs you’re using too much laundry detergent.

The hotter the water, the better the cleaning power

Surely, the temperature of the water would have a profound effect. However, hot water may not have as much of an impact as you might think. “Hot water won’t necessarily get clothes cleaner. In fact, it can damage some fabrics or cause some stains to become permanent instead of being removed,” Sansoni says. “This is the case of a myth that may have been true in the past but detergents these days have been designed to work just as well, if not better, in cold water. Always follow the fabric care label.” By the way, this is why clothes shrink in the wash, and how to prevent it.

The more dryer sheets, the better

Too much of a good thing can actually, well, sometimes be a bad thing. “There is such thing as too many dryer sheets,” Laura Johnson, Research and Development at LG Electronics, tells Reader’s Digest. “Overuse of dryer sheets can reduce the efficiency of your machine by leaving behind a sweet-smelling residue and congesting your lint screen.”  Beyond the dryer, here are some genius uses for dryer sheets that will change your life. While you’re at it, also check out this genius laundry method–laundry strips!

Wash clothes after every wear

Sometimes, you may not need to wash your clothes every single time you wear them. “If you throw clothes in the hamper to be washed after every wear, you may be over-washing some items and causing them to wear out prematurely,” Sansoni says. “Unless there’s a stain, it may not need to be washed.” This might be one of the bad housekeeping habits you didn’t realize you had.

Overloading your washer with too many bulky items can damage your machine

“Any larger items must be placed in the washer in a balanced manner to prevent laundry casualties,” explains Johnson. Check out these tips for hard-to-wash items.

You can ignore the fabric care label

As with everything, always read the instructions—and that includes the fabric care label. “There are times when it’s tempting to throw all the clothes in the washer and be done with it,” Sansoni says. “However, every piece of commercial clothing has a tag with care instructions from the manufacturer designed to keep the item looking its best. Learn what the symbols mean and follow those instructions to extend the life of your favorite clothes.”

All stains are created equal

If you think you can use the same laundry detergent for coffee stains as baby formula, you might need to rethink that plan. “The stain’s type actually determines how you can remove it,” the laundry experts at Carbona tell Reader’s Digest. They take stain removal seriously. In fact, Carbona has a collection of nine different stain removers called Stain Devils that are specially formulated to remove tough stains each and every time.

You can use hand soap to thoroughly wash clothes

It’s happened to the best of us. You put in a load of laundry and then realize that you’re out of laundry detergent. As a last resort, would hand soap do the job? “While hand soap will, to some extent, clean your clothes, it will not do an effective job since soap for the body has more gentle chemicals,” Leanne Stapf, COO of The Cleaning Authority, tells Reader’s Digest. “It is best to use items that have the right amount of stronger chemicals to provide a deep clean.” These are some of the safest laundry detergents you can buy.

You can only hand wash your bras

Who here has hand-washed their bras and then found out there’s an easier way to wash them? “There is a myth that you can only hand wash your bras which is not true,” Jené Luciani Sena, intimate apparel and lifestyle influencer, tells Reader’s Digest. “You can put them in a mesh garment bag zip it up, and put on a cool water gentle cycle with a gentle detergent in the washing machine.”

Using hairspray to remove cloth stains

“This is untrue of course,” Robert Johnson, founder of Sawinery, tells Reader’s Digest, “as hairspray worsens stains, especially the ink ones by spreading it out more. Instead, blot some water to the stain and to make it more effective, use a versatile stain remover powder.” Add these secret ingredients to your next load of laundry.

Filling the machine conserves water and energy

What is a full machine, anyway? “Your definition of a full machine may be different from the manufacturer’s definition,” Melanie Musson, an insurance expert with USInsuranceAgents.com, tells Reader’s Digest. “Washing machines are designed to work optimally with a two-thirds full maximum. If you pack the machine to the top, the detergent won’t be able to spread around and clean all the clothes and you’ll have to wash them again, saving neither water nor energy.”

Don’t forget to clean your top-loading washing machine while you’re on the cleaning spree. If you aren’t cleaning your washing machine, this might convince you to start.

Visible stains are the only types of dirt you need to worry about on clothes

You might think that a shirt is dirty when you see a stain, but there’s a lot more than meets the eye. “Your clothes might be dirtier than you think. In fact, only 30 percent of the soils in your laundry are visible—things like food, dirt and grass stains,” Jennifer Ahoni, Tide Senior Scientist, tells Reader’s Digest. “The other 70 percent include invisible soils made up of body soils like sweat and body oils, which if not removed by a deep cleaning laundry detergent will build up over time and cause odors, dinginess and dullness. Deep clean provides removal of both visible and invisible dirt.” Looking for cleaning products to use around your home? Here are the cleaning products professional house cleaners always buy.

You only need to sort laundry by colors

This might be good news for people who may not have time to sort through their clothes by color. “While sorting by colors is always a good idea, you also need to consider sorting by fabric type,” says Ahoni. “Heavier fabrics such as denim can damage finer and more delicate fabrics. Make sure to always check the care label for the best guidance on washing and recommendations on other fabrics to wash with.” Find out the things that should never end up in your dryer.

You should fasten buttons before washing

How many times have you buttoned up your shirt before placing it in the washer? In fact, you may not need to do this at all. “Fastening buttons before washing can lead to the buttons falling off due to the stress the washing machine puts on the clothes,” Musson says. “It can also lead to the article of clothing getting stretched out because of the uneven pressure the place of the button on the clothes when compared to a seam.”

Sources:

• Brian Sansoni, Senior Vice President, Communications, Outreach & Membership, American Cleaning Institute
• Leanne Stapf, COO of The Cleaning Authority
• Melanie Musson, an insurance expert with USInsuranceAgents.com

The post 14 Laundry Myths That Are Ruining Your Clothes appeared first on Taste Recipes.

You’ve seen hamburgers all around the world at a variety of restaurants with different toppings. But have you ever wondered why a hamburger is called a hamburger if there’s no ham in it? It turns out, there’s historical significance to this name. For more interesting origin stories, here’s the surprising origin of popular foods and drinks.

All roads lead to Rome

Leave it to the Romans to develop concepts that will be used thousands of years later. Along with the idea of bound books, roads, and newspapers, the Romans in the 1st century AD may have contributed to the first concept of something that may have looked like a hamburger with flavors including ground or minced meat with pepper, wine flavorings and pine nuts.

The burger journey

The idea of a burger doesn’t stay in Rome for long. In the 13th century, Mongol horsemen rode across Asia while stashing raw meat beneath their saddles. This placement pounded the meat, tenderizing it and making it suitable enough to consume raw. Hundreds of years later in 1747, Hannah Glasse’s English cookbook The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy included a recipe of smoked sausage of minced beef seasoned with suet, nutmeg, garlic and other ingredients that came to be known as “Hamburg” sausage. In 1802, more than 50 years later, the Oxford English Dictionary includes the “Hamburg” steak in its publication and defines it as a “hard slab of salted, minced beef, often slightly smoked, mixed with onions and bread crumbs.” The “Hamburg” steak was considered to be high-quality, gourmet, and expensive. But what’s the significance of calling it “Hamburg”? For more German traditions, check out these old-school German recipes.

How “Hamburg” comes into play

So how did this “Hamburg” steak transform into the modern burger we know and love today? You’ve probably called a hamburger by its abbreviated name, the burger, but did you know Hamburg is actually the second-largest city in Germany? Hamburg is a port city along the Elbe river in northern Germany and is now a tourist destination known for its museums, architecture and markets. Back in the late 18th century, Germans emigrated to America on the Hamburg-America Line and brought with them the “Hamburg” steak, consisting of minced, salted beefsteak. For your reference, these are the best cuts of meat for home cooks.

The American burger

Flash forward to 1873 when Delmonico’s, a steakhouse located in New York City, opened and displayed the “Hamburg” steak on its menu for a steep price—for the time period—of ten cents. There have been many claims to the official creator of the hamburger, including twelve years later in 1885 when, at a fair in Hamburg, New York, brothers Frank and Charles Menches were low on pork and decided to use beef in their sandwich instead. That same year thousands of miles away at the Outagamie County Fair in Seymour, Wisconsin, teenager Charlie Nagreen had a similar idea. Both claimed to be the hamburger’s creators.

However, there are still contentions as to the true origin of the hamburger. In 1900, Louis Lassen of Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, served what could be the modern hamburger with ground beef between two slices of bread. One hundred years later, the U.S. Library of Congress became involved and said that Louis Lassen had served the first American hamburger. If you’re craving a hamburger, take a look at our ranking of the best fast food burgers.

It wasn’t until 1904 that the burger gained national recognition at the St. Louis World’s Fair. After a few bumps along the way with the publishing of Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, the world’s first burger chain, White Castle, opened in 1921, helped the hamburger take off in the United States. All of this to say, the hamburger has traveled around the world to get to where it is today with a namesake to remind us of the hamburger’s humble origins.

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Facts About Food You’ll Think Are Made Up

What You Shouldn't Do to Your Burgers

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Dining in a pandemic

Going out with friends and family or for a work event in a restaurant without a care in the world has quickly become a memory of the past. After much of the world has been in lockdown for the past few months due to millions of people being infected with coronavirus, restaurants in various parts of the United States are tentatively starting to open back up. However, as businesses start opening up, the repercussions of the pandemic will be felt in the United States and around the world for a long time. If you’re thinking of going out to eat, here are a few things you should keep in mind.

Arrive without a mask

Wearing a face covering has now become commonplace. According to a WHO-backed study, wearing a face-covering can reduce the spread of COVID-19 by 85 percent. One of the main things you shouldn’t do when going to a reopened restaurant is to arrive without a mask. “According to the CDC, this is a very important layer of defense when trying to not contract the disease,” Brian Hinshaw, the Senior VP of Food & Beverage at Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, tells our sister site, Reader’s Digest.

But how do you handle eating while wearing a face mask? Hinshaw recommends wearing your face covering when you enter a restaurant or are in outdoor seating like a patio and then to remove the mask when you begin to eat. When you go back to your favorite restaurant, it may look a bit different from your memories.

Ignore individual restaurant guidelines

While most restaurants will follow the same guidelines, specific restaurants may have certain parameters in place that you, as a guest, should respect and follow.  “Upon your arrival, if the restaurant wants to take your temperature or requires you to use hand sanitizer upon entry, allow this to happen,” Bridget Sweet, Executive Director of Food Safety, College of Food Innovation & Technology, Johnson & Wales University, tells Reader’s Digest. “Restaurants are trying to protect you as well as their staff. If the establishment requests that you wait in your vehicle until your table is ready, do so.” If at this point in time you’d rather order takeout as opposed to going into a restaurant, here’s how you can safely enjoy takeout during the pandemic.

Eat with your hands

If you’re dreaming of eating a hamburger with your hands or eating finger foods like mozzarella sticks or chips and salsa, you might need to savor that experience at home and not in a restaurant. “The worst mistake you can make is eating with your hands. We inadvertently touch so many things at a restaurant, such as menus, glasses, silverware, condiment containers, etc,” Dr. Gary Linkov, an ENT physician and facial reconstructive surgeon in New York City. “If you do happen to touch an item at the restaurant which has been contaminated with coronavirus, bringing your hands to your face increases your risk of acquiring infection.” Make sure you know how to wash your hands the right way.

Eat with a large group of people

Even though you’re in a restaurant, you should still maintain social distancing as much as possible. “I also do not advise going out to eat with a large group of people, as may lead to people leaning over the table in order to communicate, resulting in the spread of respiratory droplets among close contacts,” says Dr. Linkov. Here’s what kills bacteria, and what doesn’t.

Pay with cash

Opening up your wallet and paying the bill with cash might seem second-nature, but in a pandemic, it’s important to limit the spread of germs and pay with card to minimize contact. Cash itself houses a lot of germs, and if you forget to wash your hands after touching money, this will convince you to stop. But paying with cash (or not paying with cash) brings up a good question: Should people stop paying with cash in a post-COVID-19 world?

Use the restaurant pen

Remember the days of signing the receipt with the pen the waiter brought for you, and then lending that pen to a friend who didn’t bring their own? We do, too. However, looking back, sharing pens with friends, your waiter, and who knows how many other patrons may not have been the most hygienic idea. Check out a few other dos and don’ts for avoiding germs at restaurants.

Use of door handles

You’re probably aware of everything restaurant staff is cleaning like countertops, but what about things people use more often than not, like door handles? “The things to be most mindful of are the areas that restaurants do not have much control over on a minute by minute basis so unless a restaurant is physically keeping their door open or has someone opening the door, be mindful of the door handle,” Taylor Smith, founder of CJS Global, a leading restaurant sanitation company.

“A reminder of this for public restroom doors as well.” Smith adds that if using door handles is unavoidable, then you should always wash your hands or sanitize your hands after touching.

Request a physical restaurant menu

Instead of asking or expecting a physical menu to look at when dining in a restaurant, you should look up the menu online beforehand. If that’s not possible, then look for a disposable menu. The National Restaurant Association, in its COVID-19 reopening guide for the restaurant industry, recommends restaurants “Avoid sharing items such as menus, condiments and food orders. Use disposable or digital menus; toss disposable menus after each use.”

Remain quiet if you’re uncomfortable

While restaurants are taking all the precautions that they can, this is still an uncertain time for everyone. “If staff seats you too close to others, or close to someone who is coughing or sneezing, then don’t be shy about asking to be moved,” Lynell Ross, founder and managing editor of Zivadream, an education advocacy website. “Out of concern for your safety and others, politely asked to be moved to a table somewhere else in the restaurant or even outside. Experts are finding that droplets can spread farther than six feet when someone is coughing or sneezing.”

Move chairs and tables without permission

It might be tempting to scoot a table over a foot or move a chair from its rightful place, but you shouldn’t do that. “Do not move tables or chairs without asking a manager or person in charge,” says Hinshaw. If you’re that uncomfortable, bring it up with your waiter or manager, since there are guidelines in place that you, as a guest, may not even know about. “There are strict floor plans for social distancing guests in a restaurant that affect licensing,” Hinshaw adds. Also, many restaurant owners have put in a lot of time and money into making sure you as the guest are comfortable.

Share food

Communal appetizers and split desserts may become a thing of the past during the current coronavirus pandemic. “While it can be fun to take a sip of someone’s drink or milkshake or sample a bite of someone else’s meal, that should be avoided now,” says Ross. Since people infected with COVID-19 can be asymptomatic, or not show any symptoms, it’s important to be mindful of who you’re sharing food with. It should go without saying that there are still risks in dining out and if you’re feeling under the weather, stay home.

Use the bathroom

Or, at least, if you do think twice about it. According to the New York Times, a recent study published in the journal Physics of Fluids revealed that after a toilet is flushed aerosol droplets are spread about three feet in the air, creating a “toilet plume.” What’s even grosser? Coronavirus particles can be found in those aerosol droplets. Will we live in a world where you will avoid every public restroom you see? Not likely. But it’s best to keep your wits (and bladder) in check.

If you do use the bathroom, don’t flush with your foot

OK, so you couldn’t hold it in any longer and had to use the restaurant bathroom. But how do you go to the bathroom without, well, touching anything? For starters, avoid flushing the toilet with your foot. “Unless you can maneuver opening stall doors without using your hands, you’re more than likely leaving the stall with dirty paws anyways. Flushing the toilet with your foot only assists in transferring fecal matter and urine from the floor to the handle,” Glenn Gallas, vice president of operations for Mr. Rooter Plumbing, a Neighborly company tells Reader’s Digest. “Instead, use toilet tissue to push the toilet handle, wash your hands with soap and water and use a paper towel to hold the door on your way out.”

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