White vinegar

The first in our series of posts on the must-have ingredients for natural cleaning, vinegar alone fits all the boxes.

Deodorizing, descaling, degreasing, disinfecting, anti-limescale, it’s THE eco-friendly, economical product that’s essential when you want to putzer naturally and sustainably.

But first, which vinegar do we use?

It’s a question that often comes up during our workshops. White vinegar, household vinegar or spirit vinegar, which is exactly the same product, is a vinegar (like all the others, cider, balsamic, etc.) made from the fermentation of fruit or cereals.

It is used for cleaning in aqueous solution, at an acidity level of between 8% and 14%, the level of acetic acid it contains.
Knowing that a wine or cider vinegar has an acidity level of 5 to 8%, we could also use 8% white vinegar for food purposes (to preserve vegetables in vinegar, for example!).
We’ll keep the 12% for household use only, as it’s too acidic to be consumed.

White vinegar is always very inexpensive, and can be found in bulk grocery stores (take an empty bottle with you to fill!), organic grocery stores, or supermarkets.

What are its properties and virtues?

Ecological because it’s 100% biodegradable and non-toxic, it doesn’t pollute the water once you’ve done your housework, nor your lungs – unlike bleach or other chemical products from mass retailers, the former containing toxic chlorine, the latter being all too often composed of molecules that are not or only slightly biodegradable, perfumes, dyes and petroleum derivatives that are harmful to us and, of course, to aquatic ecosystems!

(On this subject, (re-)discover the A Bon Entendeur program of October 22, 2019, which is very informative! https://pages.rts.ch/emissions/abe/10696288-produits-de-nettoyage-que-contiennent-ils-vraiment.html)

It’s a weak acid, like citric acid, so it has good anti-scale and descaling properties . The higher the acidity of your vinegar (12%), the faster it will dissolve limescale.

An excellent antiseptic and antibacterial, it disinfects your home from micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungi! It doesn’t get rid of 100% of bacteria like bleach, but isn’t it true that for our immunity, we need to preserve some of the bacteria that surround us?

However, it is not a virucide (it doesn’t eliminate the coronavirus!). So these days, disinfecting everything with vinegar won’t be enough to disintegrate any virus that may be present on your keys or door handle! In this case, use 70% alcohol, which dissolves the virus envelope and breaks it down.

However, to eliminate common bacteria, vinegar has exemplary power and will be your ally for all surfaces.

Finally, it has deodorizing properties on textiles, clothes and carpets, and don’t worry, its smell disappears completely as it dries!

A little chemistry

You’ve probably already had the experience of mixing an acid, such as vinegar (or citric acid), with a base (baking soda or soda ash). It foams, an effervescent reaction occurs: carbon dioxide (CO2) escapes, and it’s at this precise moment that the cleaning power of your products reaches its peak.

Once the effervescence has subsided, you’re left with water and salt (specifically sodium acetate, a non-toxic substance resulting from the reaction between base and acid).

Avoid adding vinegar to bicarbonate in advance (e.g. to make a shelf-stable cleaning product), as the reaction of this mixture cancels out the properties of each of the two products. These properties and this reaction can be used for instant cleaning (e.g. WC, unclogging a sink).

While the gas escaping during the vinegar/bicarbonate reaction is not toxic in this case, beware of splashes during the chemical reaction, which can irritate the eyes.

And a few recipes and tips

First of all, for those who are totally put off by the smell of vinegar in their “homemade” preparations, 2 options!

• Scent your vinegar with citrus peel (lemons, oranges, mandarins), flowers (lilac, jasmine), thyme or conifer branches (like your Christmas tree): fill a jar with the ingredient of your choice, cover with vinegar and leave to macerate in a closed jar for 15 days, away from light. Then open, strain and use.
• Swap vinegar for citric acid, which needs to be diluted as it is usually available in dehydrated granule form. Citric acid has the same properties as vinegar, except that its descaling properties are even more powerful, without the smell. Dissolve 30g of citric acid in 1 liter of hot water.

Discover its many uses in the home, kitchen and garden!

A clean & green home:

• Make your own window spray by mixing 1/3 water, 1/3 alcohol and 1/3 white vinegar. Alcohol is not mandatory, but it helps the liquid evaporate more quickly and helps degrease surfaces. 70% alcohol or vodka (45%) in the spirit of a natural home (except during coronavirus outbreaks, see above paragraph on vinegar’s antiseptic properties).

• This spray becomes a multi-purpose cleaner, degreaser, disinfectant and scale remover . Use on worktops, taps, stainless steel and vitroceramics. Alcohol is not essential in this case – pure vinegar will do!
• Speaking of pure vinegar, use it to disinfect a worktop (not marble!), your cutting boards or wooden utensils, the toilet bowl, simply in a spray!
• Use as a rinse aid in the dishwasher, directly in the adhoc compartment.
• Or as a fabric softener: vinegar softens fibers, fixes colors, deodorizes clothes and maintains the washing machine (anti-scale power). In a bottle, dilute 1/3 vinegar with 2/3 water, then pour 1dl of this mixture into the fabric softener compartment. Be careful, however, not to over-concentrate or over-use, as vinegar can wear down the elastics of some garments. Use sparingly, only occasionally and with specific machines, such as terry bath towels.
• This time, to maintain your washing machine, every 2-3 months, run a vacuum wash cycle at high temperature (95°C), adding 3dl of vinegar to the detergent compartment. This will disinfect your machine and remove soap residues. This step is recommended both for users of “industrial” detergents and for those who have opted for “natural” detergents!
• And since vinegar’s main drawback is that it’s liquid, for a local use that allows for a pause, you can make your own WC gel by putting 200ml of cold water into a saucepan, to which you add 4g of gelling agent (agar agar – can be replaced by a thickener such as maïzena, xanthan gum or guar gum). Mix well and bring to the boil, stirring with a whisk. Remove from heat and add 500ml white vinegar. Stir again to homogenize the mixture. Once cooled, you have your gel. If you wish, you can add 20 drops of antibacterial essential oils (e.g. lemon, tea tree) and pour the solution into a clean toilet bowl. Don’t forget the label: it can be kept for up to 1 year!
• The mixture that unclogs everything: to unclog clogged drains, we create the famous effervescence reaction mentioned above, by pouring 1 part baking soda, 1 part table salt and 1 part vinegar directly down the drain. Leave to react and stand for 30 minutes to a few hours, or even overnight, then spray with a good liter of boiling water. Do this regularly to maintain your pipes, and if they’re really clogged, repeat the operation.
• And of course, for a descaling session (kettle, coffeemaker (even Nespresso!), heat the vinegar and leave overnight. Avoid breathing the fumes, however, and perform 1 or 2 rinsing cycles to remove residues.
• Finally, you can clean your fridge with pure vinegar and a clean cloth, or your microwave oven by heating a bowl of water and vinegar, then rinsing the walls with a cloth.

In the kitchen…

• In these times (and even in normal times), a good cleaning of fruits and vegetables with vinegar is interesting to eliminate bacteria, mold, germs and residues of phytosanitary products: immerse your vegetables in a good volume of cold water (in the sink directly) with 2dl of vinegar, to eliminate impurities, bacteria and residues of phytosanitary products. Leave for 5-10 minutes, then rinse and pat dry. Baking soda can be used instead of vinegar for this application. In this case, dissolve 2 ccs in cold water, or rub the undiluted powder into the vegetables by hand.
• As mentioned above, it can also be used to make pickles or mustard, since bacteria cannot grow in an acid environment, so it acts as a preservative. In this case, opt for white vinegar with a low acidity level (maximum 8%).

And for gardeners…

• Vinegar is an excellent natural weedkiller, provided you really want to get rid of certain invasive plant species. It will burn the aerial parts of plants on contact, and will not kill the plant down to the root. So renew regularly on terraces, walkways and other inert ground. Simply sprinkle undiluted vinegar on undesirable plants, and keep a spray bottle handy. Or, for larger areas, dilute 1 part vinegar with 1 part water and water the area to be weeded. Use early in the morning in season, before weeds become too vigorous, and apply regularly to young plants, which will die back entirely this way.
• Vinegar is also effective as an insect repellent (for ants and other small bugs): sprinkle it on the entrances to the house (windowsills and doors). It doesn’t kill them, it just makes them take a different path!
• Finally, to preserve cut flowers, dilute 1 centilitre of vinegar and 1 centilitre of sugar in the flower water.

Now you know everything! Need some vinegar? Visit our e-shop and you’ll find it here 🙂 !

A few final precautions…

Avoid mixing vinegar with bleach : it releases toxic fumes. Better still, forget about using bleach at all, which is a disaster for ecosystems and our health!

Finally, if you have stone surfaces, particularly marble, avoid cleaning them with vinegar. Vinegar in contact with calcareous stone such as marble risks rendering it porous, as the limestone is dissolved by the vinegar.

References:

– “Du sel, du citron, du vinaigre, du bicarbonate de soude: Recettes et astuces pour tout faire dans la maison”, Shea Zukowski, Poche Marabout, 2019.

– White vinegar: clean, degrease, disinfect, shiner”, Louet, Isabelle, Ed. Massin , 2016.

–“Produits récup’ : bicarbonate de soude, citron, vinaigre, chlorure de magnésium, savon noir et co”, Cousin Nathalie, Semenuik Nathalie, Bacon Caroline, Ed. Rustica, 2018.