VINEGAR ALERT

Are you are planning to home can some pickles this year? Or pickled beets or pickled green beans or pickled cauliflower or pickled tomatoes?

Then be aware that the white vinegar we routinely just pick up from the grocery store shelf and put in our shopping baskets without a second thought may have been diluted to levels unsafe for food preservation.

Vinegar effectively preserves food because the acetic acid it contains increases the acidity of the vegetables, killing off any microorganisms and preventing spoilage. When you use vinegar to preserve food, it must have a 5% acetic acid level.

Recently various homesteading and canning You Tubers have alerted followers to pay attention to the vinegar label. Several manufacturers, without notice, have reduced the acidity in their white vinegar to 4%. I imagine the 4% acetic acid vinegar is fine for most of the many other uses for vinegar – in the laundry, making salad dressing, in the garden – but it is not to be used for food preservation.

So, read your labels and make sure you are getting what you expect.