10 tricks to rid your body of food stains and smells

Any cook knows how hard it can be to get food stains and smells off hands or the sting of chopping onions. Fight back with these helpful hints.

Berries and beets are notorious stainers. Remove stains by rubbing them with a splash (10 millilitres or two teaspoons) of fresh lemon juice and then washing your hands with soap and water.

Even chopped carrots, red bell peppers and pumpkin can leave their marks. Rub a raw potato on your fingers to help remove the stains.

This strange-but-true chef's trick works: rub garlicky hands repeatedly on a flat stainless steel surface and they'll be fresh as a daisy.

Rub your hands with sprigs of fresh rosemary to rid them of garlic and onion smells.

Use a little white vinegar as a hand balm. To avoid oniony hands to begin with, rub vinegar over your hands before peeling onions.

Sprinkle table salt into your palm and rub your hands together to remove smells of garlic and onions. Rinse and dry.

Handling fish can leave your hands smelling, well, fishy. Wet a washcloth with cold water and squeeze on some toothpaste. Scrub to remove the smell.

Cut a small piece of bread and insert your chopping knife partway down to the hilt. As you slice the onions, the bread will absorb some of the fumes.

Freeze onions for 10–15 minutes before slicing them. The cold helps minimize the fumes that cause tears.

If you can safely position your cutting board on a gas range stovetop, chop onions with one or two of the burners turned on low. The heat attracts onion fumes and neutralizes them.

Cooking is fun, but handling food sometimes leaves behind stains and odours on your skin. These 10 tricks will help you get rid of those unwanted side effects in a jiffy.

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