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| Vinegar |
For household use, it contains 4-15% acetic acid. In higher concentrations it is intended for industrial use.
Vinegar is a light acid.
Types of vinegar:
Depending on the production method, there are several types of vinegar: kitchen or white vinegar, wine vinegar, cider vinegar, sherry vinegar, balsamic vinegar...For household use ordinary white vinegar is suitable.
You may buy generic brands. There is basically no difference between a generic brand of vinegar and a regular brand.
Production:
Vinegar is produced by the action of Acetobacter bacteria on an alcoholic fluid. They transform the alcohol (ethanol) to acetic acid.Depending on the liquid used, the taste of vinegar for culinary use varies.
Artisan vinegar can be produced by mixing 2/3 of an alcoholic liquid like wine with 1/3 good vinegar or by inoculating vinegar with mother of vinegar.
For industrial use, however, there are other production methods.
Properties of vinegar:
Antibacterial, antifungal:
According to a study, ordinary 5% white vinegar kills 99% of bacteria, 82% offungi 80% of viruses. Other studies show lower figures, just below disinfectants for medical use. Anyway, vinegar has a disinfectant propriety.Please note that this is not necessarily a good feature! By disinfecting your surroundings too thoroughly, you will contribute to the development of resistant bacteria. There is no need to live in a perfectly sterile environment, on the contrary, many bacteria are useful. Recent research has shown that there is a correlation between lack of certain bacteria in our environment, and thus in our body, and allergies.
There are only a few things for which you should be as sterile as possible:
- toilet
- everything used to process raw chicken
- cutting board: especially after you've used it for meat, disinfect it with a dash of vinegar
Slightly acidic:
Because vinegar is mildly acidic, it dissolves mineral deposits, such as limescale.Antislip agent:
Treating rubber or soft plastic surfaces with vinegar restores their antislip properties.Antioxidant:
Slows the decomposition of organic substances.Biodegradable:
Vinegar is biodegradable. That means that the acetic acid quickly breaks down into smaller molecules.Therefore it is environmentally friendly and it pollutes neither soil nor groundwater or surface water.
Preservative:
Because of its antiseptic action, vinegar is suitable for preserving foods.Deodorizer:
Vinegar neutralizes unpleasant odors.Solvent:
Vinegar is a good solvent for adhesives, wallpaper paste, epoxy resin...This feature also makes it suitable for cleaning glass and mirrors, metals, stainless steel, soak stickers...
Budget-friendly:
White vinegar is very cheap, several times cheaper than regular cleaning products, even generic brand ones.And you may as well buy a cheaper generic brand because the composition is substantially the same: water and acetic acid.
Also, because you can use it for many different things at home, you also have only one bottle of vinegar instead of 10 different products cluttering your space.
Use:
Vinegar is used for many things:- culinary: as flavoring, preservative or cooking help
- cleaning: cleaning, deodorizing, stain removing, descaling...
- fabric softener
- garden: weed Control
- medical: treating itching from nettle, mosquito or jellyfish stings
Toxicity:
Ordinary vinegar at 4-10% is non-toxic and environment friendly. It is biodegradable and does not pollute the environment.Solutions of acetic acid in water with higher concentrations (& gt; 15%) are toxic and may cause irritation to the respiratory tract, mucous membranes, skin and eyes.
But this problem arises with acetic acid solutions for industrial use, not with ordinary white vinegar at lower concentrations.
There are rare cases of skin sensitization for vinegar.
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