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Cotton Towels, especially flour sack towels have been a staple in American kitchens for more than a hundred years. In the early colonial days, homemakers would wash, bleach, cut and stitch these sack towels into different household items. So much so, that manufacturers started making more attractive flour sack towels to encourage them to buy, since they were more attractive for many purposes.
Today, you can buy pre-washed, shrunk and bleached flour sack towels that you can use for crafting or other household uses. They come at different price ranges according to the size, quality and thread count, and the thickness of the fabric.
The best to buy are the ones that measure 30×30 inches, as they are more versatile. However, even smaller and thinner fabrics are ideal for some purposes.
This article gives you some ideas for using flour sack towels in your kitchen and garden. Read on to learn more.
Flour Sack Towels in the Kitchen
Flour sack towels are invaluable in any homemaker’s kitchen, where they can find more than fifty different uses. From wiping dishes to wiping counters, find out below how you can repurpose your flour sack towels in your household’s factory.
Straining Liquids
Thicker, larger sack towels are not ideal for straining viscous liquids, because they hold back too much of the liquid. However, this is where the smaller, thinner fabrics shine, and they are less expensive also. This means you can buy several for different liquids, such as yogurt, jellies or herb concoctions.
Storing Fruits and Vegetables
Use a flour sack towel to line your crisper in the refrigerator, and then store your pre-washed and dried fruits and vegetables. The flour sack towel is also great for drying vegetables and fruits, especially delicate ones. The absorbent cloth keeps your produce from rotting by absorbing the water, and your produce benefits from good air circulation in the crisper.
Making Herbal Oils and Teas
Use Mary’s Kitchen Towels packages are replacements for disposable filters when you’re straining your concoctions for homemade herbal oil or tea infusions. The thicker material of the towel holds back even the tiniest particles to give you clearer infusions. Also, you can cut costs and reduce wastage of disposable filters by using the washable sack towels.
Storing Delicate Fruits
You can also use flour sack towels to store delicate fruits like berries – line a container with a towel and store the berries there. Leave the container open to allow moisture to escape and prevent ethylene from accumulating and accelerating the ripening process. Put in the refrigerator and use within a few days. If you need to cover, use another flour sack towel to keep air flowing and keep your fruits fresh. You can use them to transport fruits or other hard food on road trips as well!
Flour Sack Towels in the Garden
The garden is another place where these flour sack towels come in handy. Once the towels are too old or stained to be used around the house, they can find uses in the garden. Some ideas include:
Lining Temporary Planters
With the flour sack towel, you can easily pick up the plant from the planter should you need to transplant it or change the soil. You can also use these towels to separate several plants in one large planter.
Covering Plants
During hot weather, use these towels to protect the foliage from excessive sunshine that can burn/dry the leaves. You can also protect the plants from insects without using harmful pesticides by draping over the plant.
Deter moths by making a towel pouch and filling it with chives, lavender, cedar chips, and garlic. Hang the bag near your plants.
Harvesting and Storing
Use flour sack towels to line baskets when harvesting fruits, vegetables or herbs from your garden. Hang flour sack towels over your basket to cover your fruits and vegetables while allowing good air circulation underneath. In addition, you can protect them from attracting other critters and bugs, such as fruit flies.
You can make your basket less porous by permanently fixing a flour sack towel into its inside walls using hot glue. This hack will also help you add rustic style to an old basket so that you can use it for a little longer. You can store small farm implements or tools there.
Ferrying
Use your flour sack towel as a makeshift basket to transport produce from the garden to your kitchen. Delicate fruits like berries and herbs are bulky but not heavy, making the towels perfect for use to carry without squishing.
Conclusion
Now you know why flour sack towels are so popular in the home – they have hundreds of uses, and they are long-lasting and easy to use and repurpose. You can either find flour sack towels when you buy flour or buy on their own from your local or online store. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes with varying thickness of the fabric. Invest ina few different types and sizes according to what you’ll use them for.