The Virtues of Vinegar

Vinegar is one of those household staples nearly everyone has, but how often do you use it? From cooking to cleaning to deodorizing, there is nothing else quite like it.

Now there are plenty of vinegars on the market, ranging in colors and flavors, but they fall into only three categories. You’ve got your finishers, like balsamic, which have such a rich and complex flavor, and are usually quite thick compared to others. You’ve got your cooking, like red wine as well as cider vinegars. And then there is the multipurpose workhorse of the vinegar world, white.

We have two bottles of white wine vinegar in our house. One we keep in the kitchen for cooking, and the other we keep in the laundry room for cleaning. For cooking, I use a tablespoon or two in the water when making hard boiled eggs to make them easier to peel, and a tablespoon of vinegar stirred into a cup of milk is a great substitute for buttermilk in recipes when allowed to sit for at least five minutes. I also use a little white vinegar in my mixing bowl and wipe thoroughly with a paper towel to make sure there is no fat residue when whipping egg whites, as any trace of fat will inhibit foaming, and the vinegar removes it. I would also suggest using your cooking vinegar, as opposed to the cleaning one, to remove mineral deposits from your coffee maker. Personally I find that using filtered water prevents those deposits from forming, but not everybody uses filtered water for their coffee, even though it dramatically increases its flavor.

On the cleaning side, most people know about using vinegar to clean windows, but did you know that white vinegar has the perfect pH to get rid of those unfortunate pet urine accidents that occasionally happen? Got a nasty odor coming from your sink? Well, we all remember the science experiment with baking soda and vinegar, right? Just pour about a quarter cup of baking soda in the drain followed by a cup of white vinegar and allow it to fizz. You’ll not only get rid of the odor, but clean part of your drain as well. This also works for garbage disposals too, and for clearing minor clogs.

You can also use vinegar in the garden. Want an eco-friendly way to kill weeds without pulling them? The acetic acid in vinegar will kill annual weeds as it cannot be absorbed into the root system. This, however, will not kill perennials, just their top growth. But for families with kids and pets, white vinegar is the safest herbicide on the market.