My good friends, Stel and Jason, are the people I call when I want to be more green. They’re the ones who told me that agave nectar may no longer be a power food, and that I shouldn’t use regular Febreze to spray my running clothes. (Good advice, but I haven’t found an alternative yet.) And they’re complete whizzes when it comes to natural cleaning products.
About two years ago, I told Stel that I had to hold my breath when using my bathroom cleaner because the chemicals in it made me cough.
“Why don’t you use vinegar?” she said.
“Vinegar?” I said, scrunching up my nose. I had heard of cleaning with vinegar before, but I just assumed the smell would be hard to take. Then again, my current cleaner’s smell was choking me. And, because vinegar is inexpensive, it wasn’t much of an investment to at least try it. I went all in, buying a gallon container of white vinegar and a plastic bottle.
I mixed vinegar and water in the plastic bottle and began using it to clean my countertops. When I sprayed this cleaner, I felt wonderfully environmental, like I was finally going beyond recycling to make the world a better place. I wanted to like it so much that’s it’s hard for me to write this next sentence.
The problem was that I never felt like vinegar got surfaces clean.
Vinegar doesn’t work well on stains – unless I’m using the wrong scrubbing implement, which is entirely possible – and it does leave a lingering scent, an odor that made me feel like I should be dying Easter eggs. (Remember dropping those colored tablets into a cup of vinegar?) Defeated in my environmentalism, I never cleaned with vinegar again.
But I still had a gallon of the stuff. What was I supposed to do with it?
Well, you know how cooking competition judges are always saying that food needs acid? I don’t always have lemons or limes in my apartment, but now and forever – or until December 2010, when it expires – I will have white vinegar. So I’ve started adding a splash of white vinegar to everything I’ve make.
Last week, it was black beans and squash that I was cooking for quesadillas. I sautéed them up with garlic, cayenne pepper, cumin, and smoked paprika. The beans and squash had flavor, but they still tasted flat, like peanut butter toast does without jam or honey. (I think it does anyway.)
So I added a splash of vinegar, and plunged my spoon into the mixture for a taste. The beans and squash now had a perky ting. The vinegar brought them to life.
Still, a gallon is a lot of vinegar. Maybe it’s time to look for my plastic bottle and give cleaning with vinegar one last chance.
How about you – what’s your secret ingredient in the kitchen?
Try pouring some vinegar into your wash; it may eliminate your need for Febreeze on your running clothes.
My must-have in the kitchen is crunchy salt. I tend to leave salt out of my cooking (unless I’m baking, of course), because I want people to be able to add it if they want (and I’m hyper-conscious of sodium in our diet because we have a propensity toward hypertension…). I am in love with flaked sea salt in pretty much every application; pizza, pasta, and especially steak. Mmmmm!
You know, you can always use that vinegar to make emergency buttermilk…that’s where it seems to get the most use in my kitchen.
@Mrs. Chili: I didn’t know you could put vinegar in the wash! That’s a great idea. I’ll have to try it. And I agree, crunchy salt is great. A woman who sells specialty salt once told me that we should sprinkle salt on food after cooking it (as opposed to adding it during the process). She said the food will then have more of a salty flavor. So it sounds like you’re on to something (and thanks for mentioning the health benefits too).
@Beth: Yes, good point! I haven’t been able to find buttermilk in the store many times, which is surprising. Thanks for the tip!
i used to use white vinegar a lot to make quick pickles, but honestly i’ve found that it doesn’t add a lot of flavor, other than sour. cider, red wine, coconut or cane, chinese black vinegar all bring a lot more flavor to the mix. then again, you have a gallon to use, so make use of it. you can always fill a container with a bunch of different hot chilies, garlic, vinegar and spices and blend to make you’re own hot sauces. and i also use it mixed with water when i lack any other cleaner. actually cleaned the kitchen floor with it last weekend!
@hg: Honestly, I don’t have any flavored vinegars other than balsamic (and I’ve never even heard of coconut vinegar and cane vinegar!). That’s probably not very culinary of me, but I’m determined to use this gallon of white vinegar. Good thing the sour taste works for me b/c I feel like you can add salty, sweet, spicy, etc. in other ways.
I like the idea of making your own hot sauce; I’ve never tried that before.
Did you think the vinegar/water mixture was a good cleaner? Everyone I know who has tried it seems to like it. I really should try it again sometime soon.
can’t honestly say if it was a “good” cleaner, but it worked ok for cleaning the floor quickly before guests came over when i had nothing else in the house. i can say for a fact though that it works awesome for cleaning discolored copper pots (well, i wish i had copper pots, i’m really talking about copper bottom pots)–just make a slurry of white vinegar and salt and let it sit on the pan awhile before wiping off. presto–clean as new!
hg, you beat me to it! I was also going to suggest hot pepper sauce. SOOO good! We’ve got a balcony garden loaded with several varieties of hot peppers and are going to make jars of hot pepper sauce for Christmas gifts for family.
But, I don’t know that I have a secret ingredient… unless maybe it’s the packets of mixed spices that I bought from a strange little shop in the East Village. A curry, a “five spice mix” and a few others, all find their way into unexpected dishes with fabulous results. My method is the sniff method – taste what I am cooking, then sniff the spice mix I think might work, and if it smells like it fits, I give it a go.
@hg: You mean you can’t tell us the percentage of germs that were killed with vinegar/water vs. regular cleaner?? (In case the joke doesn’t translate, I’m making fun of my own question there.) That’s good to know that the mixture works on copper pots though. I’ll keep that in mind for when I someday have a copper pot.
@DragonKat: That’s two for making hot sauce. Now I really do have to try it (and the smell method of cooking!). Thanks for sharing your secret ingredients!
Jen – I too found that vinegar didn’t work as well to clean, but I add a little baking powder in and it works like a charm! Best way to get stains up from rugs, on furniture, etc. Got to love that the pugs have created the need for such invention!
Heather, I never thought of adding baking powder. I’m going to try that. Thanks to the pugs who inspired your suggestion!
Hydrogen peroxide in the wash takes the stink out of my cycling kits and my husbands running clothes.