You've probably been advised to use vinegar as a home cleaner, but you may have wondered: is it effective enough? Vinegar is an all-natural substance that's in almost everyone's kitchen. But as well as having powerful cleaning properties, it can also be used to disinfect. This natural, mildly acidic liquid does its job without producing toxic chemicals, so it's not harmful to your health, and it can be produced in an environmentally friendly, sustainable way.
Read this article to find out all about vinegar, its history, its cleaning properties and most importantly, how to clean your home with it.
Reading time 6 minutes
A brief history of vinegar
If you look at the evolution of vinegar, it is certainly the oldest ingredient in your kitchen. Vinegar has been found in Egyptian shipwrecks from around 3000 BC, but vinegar is also mentioned in Babylonian writings from the same period. It is even mentioned in the Bible!
We won't bore you with the events of the next 4-5000 years, so let's jump straight to the 19th century! Although vinegar had been made for thousands of years, it was only Louis Pasteur who first published the scientific, microbiological knowledge behind vinegar in the 1850s. A few decades later, as large companies such as Heinz started mass-producing vinegar, it slowly became a household staple.
How is vinegar made?
The original name of vinegar comes from the French vin+aigre, which is how it came to be called "vinegar". The word means "sour wine", where vin means wine and aigre means sour. But vinegar can be fermented (i.e. fermented) from essentially any vegetable matter, so in addition to wine vinegar, you can also find vinegars made from rice, malt, fruit or cereals. To put it simply, any substance containing sugars and starches that can become alcoholic can also become vinegar during the fermentation process. The vinegar used in ancient times was probably made the way many great culinary discoveries were made: by accident.
Bacterial fermentation produces acetic acid, and in the old days this happened naturally, as the bacteria producing the acetic acid in the fermented, slightly alcoholic liquid were exposed to oxygen. Until the 19th century, people had no idea why this happened, so they thought that wine left in the open air simply turned into vinegar. But later, the true background to the process was understood, and this started a real revolution in vinegar production.
The cleaning and antibacterial properties of vinegar
Vinegar, thanks to its antibacterial properties, is also an excellent cleaning agent. Let's look at the benefits of using vinegar to clean your home.
A great solvent. Vinegar can easily dissolve soap residue and grease, so it's great for cleaning a variety of surfaces.
Eliminates odours. Although vinegar has a strong smell of its own, it quickly dissipates and carries unpleasant odours with it.
The best descaler.
It has antiseptic properties. Researchers have found that vinegar not only kills bacteria and pathogens in food, but also kills some viruses.
Easy to rinse off.
How to use vinegar for cleaning?
Vinegar is an effective, non-toxic and vegan cleaning product, but how should you use it to clean your home?
Use white distilled vinegar or vinegar made from biomass. A good strong white distilled vinegar infused with water is better, but even better is to use a formulation made directly for cleaning, such as CYCLE products.
Use vinegar to clean the kitchen and bathroom.
You can also wash your clothes with vinegar. It may sound strange, but if you add a little vinegar instead of rinse aid, your clothes will be cleaner, fresher and even softer.
You can also use it to clean the toilet. You can also use vinegar to wash the inside and outside of the toilet bowl. Pour a splash of undiluted vinegar into the shell and leave it there for a few hours. Then rub it all over with a brush and rinse.
Use vinegar as a glass cleaner. Using one part water and two parts vinegar, you can make a stain-free window cleaning liquid, which you can spray on the glass and wipe off to get a clean, stain-free glass.
By adding natural essential oils, you can also deal with the smell of vinegar.If you're looking for a classic cleaner scent, you can suppress the strong smell of vinegar by adding some natural essential oils. This could be orange, grapefruit or lemon essential oil. This will also make it smell better, yet won't add any toxic substances to the cleaner. This is what we do with CYCLE products.
You can also use it to remove stains on carpets. If you put baking soda on the stain on the carpet and then wash it down with half a cup of vinegar, you can get rid of it!
Refresh your bedroom with vinegar. Spray a little vinegar on your mattress and leave it to dry. It will help remove mites, mould and odours.
A CYCLE you don't have to compromise: cleanliness and an eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyle can now go hand in hand. Not only is the acetic acid in CYCLE products made from biomass, but the other ingredients are also derived from natural sources, such as essential oils for fragrance, recycled water and citric acid.
