Vinegar

As I have recently learned this is a very valuable household stable both for eating and using in other applications. I have long known that vinegar can neutralize powerful bases such as sodium hydroxide (aka Lye). And I have enjoyed it in various forms in recipes too. But it is apparently an amazing household cleaner (who knew?) I was cruising around on "Pintrest" and was looking for different vinegar infusion ideas (for my salad) and came across someone who was infusing orange peels into regular white vinegar and using it to clean the house. Lovely, it's a great idea, I have often worried about using commercial cleansers in the kitchen where we prepare our food but did not know what my alternatives were. It seems that I have found some.

First, I kind of created my own vinegar infusion for my salad tonight and am very pleased with it, i based it on a dressing i bought at the store which i really liked but thought it was ridiculously overpriced (seriously it was vinegar, oil, cherries and rosemary.....and it costs over $10). Here is how I made my infusion.

black cherry vinegar

Cherry and rosemary infused vinaigrette:

1/2 lb dark cherries, de-stemed, pitted and cut in half
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1tbsp dried rosemary

Put all in pot and let it simmer slow and low. The flavors will start to pop after about 1 hour. Remove form heat and puree with hand blender or in food processor. Put back on stove for about 30 minutes then pour into pretty bottle and refrigerate, I suspect that this will keep for a couple of months but it will probably be gobbled up before then. Eat and enjoy!


As for using vinegar as a home cleaning product, there are many different ways to mix it up. Do you want your windows to shine? Spray them down with vinegar and wipe them with black and white mews paper. Room odor got you down? Just set a bowl of vinegar in the room overnight. Did your kid "decorate" something of yours (like grandma's antique breakfront) with stickers? moisten with vinegar, let sit and gently peel away, repeat the process as necessary if the glue if being stubborn. SEE?!? Vinegar IS magical!!! And that's just what I found from a very brief google. If I asked my Gram she would probably have an extensive list of it's uses. 

Here's a great link to the wonderful world of distilled white vinegar, I just learned how to keep my egg shells from cracking while boiling them!
http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=5

Here's some information on balsamic vinegar.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/balsamic.htm

This site is also great, it has information on all kinds of vinegars.
http://www.foodsubs.com/Vinegars.html

I intend to get to know this ingredient better, it seems to be so versatile I would just be cheating myself if I did not. 

Until next time....
~CM