Earlier this year we wrote about unusual ways to use foods like Tabasco sauce, sliced bread and cornmeal for cleaning, and we asked if you, our readers, had your own tricks to share.

Did you ever!

After sorting through hundreds of responses, here are our favorites, from cleaning glass with gin to grooming the family dog with olive oil.

Emails have been edited for length and clarity.

Uses for cooking oils — particularly olive, but also canola and coconut — were abundant. These oils can be used as alternatives to turpentine for cleaning paint brushes; lubricating squeaky hinges; and removing dried-on adhesives (like glue, stickum from labels and price tags) from surfaces like wood floors and for polishing leather goods.

Maureen wrote to share this tip: “I was staying with my nephew in his recently renovated home in Florence, Italy, where sap from the new ceiling beams was dripping onto the terra-cotta tile floor. Olive oil was perfect for lifting the sap off the tile without discoloring it.”

Using olive oil for sap removal came up again and again, from hands to cars and even dogs. Irene writes: “When my very hairy German shepherd dog got tree sap in his fur we couldn’t get it out. I tried rubbing the sap covered hair with olive oil and the sap came off. Saved a trip to the groomers.”

Just as with cooking oils, many readers pointed to mayonnaise and butter as excellent foods to use for removing sticky substances. Frank writes: “Mayonnaise will remove glue residue,” Or this from Marcia: “Step on a tarball at the beach? Remove it with mayonnaise.” And Evan shared: “Butter is great for removing sap from your car! Just rub a stick of butter on the sticky sap and you are good!”

Paul wrote to tell us how he came to learn about using butter to clean paint brushes. “It came from an old spinster aunt concerning butter. After doing a small paint job for her and asking for some turpentine to clean the brush, she instead offered me a large glob of softened butter. After rubbing it into the brush I found that it cleaned up much better than the turpentine.”

There were loads of tips involving fruits, vegetables and nuts, like using a piece of cut walnut to cover scratches on hardwood floors, wooden cabinets and dinged wooden bowls.

Many readers also shared the classic trick involving peanut butter — yes, technically a legume — to remove gum from hair. A lesser known use for peanut butter? Removing blood stains and sticky substances from fabrics.

“When leather cleaner wouldn’t remove a tarlike substance from my car’s leather seats, peanut butter cleaned it off in, dare I say, a jiffy,” Robert told us.

Speaking of sticky things, our reader Peggy offers this suggestion: “I use a product called Goo Gone but its main ingredient is orange oil. If you have no Goo Gone, rub a piece of orange on the gunk from stick-on labels and Bob’s your uncle.”

Ketchup — yes, it’s a vegetable, just go with us — can be used to polish brass and copper. But if you’re out, and you happen to have a pineapple handy, you’re in luck.

“Whenever I trim a pineapple, I grab a saltshaker and whichever of my copper bottom pots needs tarnish removed: Sprinkle salt, rub with pineapple peel — Voilà!” wrote another reader.

Another option? Tamarind, either whole or in paste form. “You can use tamarind to polish brass or copper. Rub it on and leave it for 10 to 20 minutes and rinse with water and dry. This is how all the Indian temples keep their brass shiny,” said Vasantha.

We noted that Coca-Cola can be used to clear a slow-moving drain, clean a toilet bowl and remove motor oil and grease from clothing and pavement. You all had many uses to add. Bill writes: “If road oil and dust have made your windshield smeary, pour Coke on it. The windshield comes clean,” and Thomas added, “Coke rejuvenates old windshield wiper blades.”

Several others recommended Coke for removing rust and grease from nuts and bolts, as well as for use on reclaimed items like old stoves. Coca-Cola can also be used for another important restoration job, the reader Shirlee writes, “to restore your golf clubs to their original luster let them stand in a bucket (or other utensil) filled with Coca-Cola for 15 or 20 minutes, wash off and voilà, shiny clubs.”

Vodka, too, generated loads of additional uses. Glass cleaning, degreasing oven burner plates, scrubbing kitchen cabinets … you had many uses for vodka. (Gin, too, one reader noted, is an excellent glass cleaner.) We pointed out that vodka works to eliminate odors in clothing, and a reader named Barbara took it one step further.

“A very high end antique dealer in London told me that vodka in a spray bottle or soaked on a sponge is excellent for wiping out musty smelling wood cabinets. Works beautifully,” she told us.

Another way to deal with a musty-smelling piece of furniture, Rebecca said, is to use coffee.

“If you have a closet that smells mildewed, put a cup of ground, unbrewed coffee in the bottom. Leave it there for at least a week. Keep the door closed as much as possible,” she said. “The mildew will be absorbed by the coffee. I learned this from a person who cares for antique clothing in a museum.”

Our granulated friends, sugar and salt, also popped up a number of times. Marlana swears by salt “to get rid of onion/garlic smell on your hands after chopping. Just rinse your hands then apply a liberal amount of salt, rub it around a bit, rinse hands in cool water and the smell is gone. I got this from a “tip” insert back in the late 60s from San Diego Gas and Electric.”

Bob uses sugar to similar effect: “After changing the oil in my car, I was taught to wet my hands, douse them with sugar, rub until the sugar dissolves, rinse and dry.”

Liane shares this trick for cleaning up a broken egg, which is, as she points out “a very smeary mess!”

“Generously pour salt over all of it, being sure to cover every bit of it. Give it 60 seconds to absorb, then sweep it into the dustpan, adding more salt if needed.”

No word on whether it works to remove egg from one’s face.