THE VIRTUES OF VINEGAR

I got a couple of complaints that my blog was announcing olympic results before they had a chance to watch them.  So, I will tend not to tell you how Simone Biles or certain other stars do, but will now and then report only on obscure highlights worthy of mention, and at least show status of medals.

                                                                GOLD  SILVER  BRONZE  TOTAL

1 China

117523

2USA

9141336

3France

811827

4Japan

83516

5Australia

76417

6Great Britain

67720

7Republic of Korea

63312

8Italy

57416

9Canada

3238

10Germany

2226

96 days until November 5, and as this campaign develops, Donald Trump will probably, in desperation, become more vitriolic and, well, show his true self.  He will lose to Kamala Harris.

• 
  His veep choice is just not working out, and the Republican party has now turned to calling Kamala Harris a chameleon.  

• 
  If he had only taken my advice and made Nikki Haley his vice-presidential running mate, that would have made a big difference.  She is female, popular with the marginal voters and with parents from India.  She covers many of the bases absent from the Trump-Vance ticket.

• 
  Hate to do this, but I'm giving him my final piece of advice.  Continue to lie and be deceitful in a different way.  
• Stop being angry.
• Try to be nicer.
• His MAGA base will never abandon him, so showing the above traits won't hurt.
• In fact, indicate he was joking about becoming a dictator and firing civil servants who don't bow to him.  

• 
  Denounce Putin.
• Express support for Ukraine and NATO.
• Indicate that global warming is turning out to be more serious than he previously thought, and that he is now in favor of green energy, especially wind power.
• There is a whole slew of other policy adjustments that can make him look more electable.

• 
  Show some remorse and exhibit good temperament.
• It is possible that he will be able to fool just 5% of voters at the margins.  That's all he needs to win the battleground states.
• THEN IF HE GETS RE-ELECTED, GO AHEAD AND DO EVERYTHING HE HAD PROMISED TO EARLIER DO.  FOLLOW THROUGH ON PROJECT 2025, AND MORE SO, SHIFT FROM OUR CURRENT DEMOCRACY TO MAKING HIM AND HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS ROYALTY FOR LIFE.
• As the Supreme Court has now made him immune from prosecution, jail or worse any opponents, especially the liberal media.

About the topic of today, I've never thought much about vinegar in my diet until the COVID-19 pandemic.  

• I was around 165 pounds and at the border between normal and overweight on the Body-Mass Index.  
• There was no particular goal to lose weight, but during the pandemic I ended up consuming a lot more soup and salad lunches than the local bento, which is high in calories.

• 
  I started with the traditional salad dressings like blue cheese and ranch, but then switched to vinegar and olive oil.
• Then, I wondered whether olive oil was really all that good for you, and worth the extra calories.  So I stopped adding oil.
• Originally, as I had a bottle of Japanese rice vinegar in the closet, that is what I used.
• Then I upgraded to balsamic vinegar.
• The upshot of this all is that I lost 10 pounds on a diet that minimized solid carbohydrates, but not liquid ones like wine, beer, scotch, etc.
• I might also have exercised more, but only barely so.
• I was running out of balsamic, so I did some research on which balsamic vinegar to use.
• I was a bit stunned to learn the following.

Balsamic vinegar can sell for $200/ounce, or much less.  Also too, the regular vinegar, whatever it is, can cost as low as $3 for a 64-ounce bottle.  Remember Two Buck Chucks from Trader Joe's.  You can still find some of those store, especially in California for that price, but most are now up to $4/bottle.  But there are wines like Chateau Lafite Rothschild (CLR) for nearly $1000/bottle.  Both products start with grapes.  But why the ridiculous difference in the prices of balsamics and wines?  I've tried both, liked both, but for wines, did some taste testing with cheaper Bordeauxs, and could not tell much difference.  Certainly, CLR is not 250 times better than a $4 bottle of Bordeaux, which you can find in abundance in any French market.  I've never bought the really expensive and original Balsamic vinegar, but similarly can't imagine that this expensive product can be more than a 4000 times better than the cheapest variety of vinegars.

I'll start with what is vinegar?

• It is an aqueous solution of acetic acid (5-18%), with trace amounts of flavorings.
• Vinegar usually is produced by a double fermentation of simple sugars to ethanol using a yeast, then the ethanol to acetic aid using a type of bacterium.

• 
  Vinegar can be used for food, or other functions, like in a household cleaner. 
• Natural weed killer.
• Good for cleaning windows.
• Extends the life of flowers in a vase.
• Cleans bathroom tiles and grout.
• Toss some in your laundry.
• Keeps dishwasher clean.
• Clarify your hair.
• Keep fleas at bay.
• Remove old stickers.
• Eliminate garbage disposal odors.
• A cleaning agent with 5% acetic acid kills some household pathogen, but not all.
• 
  Is a nutrition source.
• Must be from 4% to 8% acetic acid.
• Low in calories and nutrients.
• Acetic acid is free of sodium and sugar.
• Watch out for vinegars that add sugar, as is the case for non-original balsamic vinegars.
• But contains trace minerals, mineral salts, amino acids and polyphenolic compounds.
• From early records in China and Middle East, was known to be a digestive aide, antibacterial balm to dress wounds and treatment for cough.
• Mind you, there have been no medical research results on any of the above.  Some for animals, but not humans.
• Brightens the flavor of certain foods, like salad and potato.
• Good as a marinade for meats and fish.
• Good for pickling vegetables and other foods.
• Kills bacteria and molds.
• Vinegar from apple cider is touted by some to be a health aid.

• 
  Most food vinegars are at 5% acetic acid, while cleaning vinegars are at 6% and industrial vinegar at 20%.  
• Never use cleaning and industrial vinegars for food.
• They have warning labels and have not been tested for impurities dangerous to the human body.

• 
  Process developed by Babylonians around 3000 BC from dates, figs and beer.
• The Greeks and Romans typically used wine.
• In the Middle Ages, the French city of Orléans refined the Orléans process, and balsamic vinegar evolved in the Duchy of Modena in Italy.
• Germany was the first to produce vinegar in factories, using alcohol over beechwood shavings.

• 
  Japan processed the remains from the sake process to make rice vinegar.
• Louis Pasteur found that acetic acid bacteria was the agent of fermentation from ethanol to vinegar.

• 
  The 20th century saw vinegar production being improved to make the product really cheap.  You can buy a 64 ounce bottle vinegar from Target in many stores for less than $3.
• One tablespoon of most vinegars has 3.2 calories, 0.8 mg of sodium and 0.1 grams of sugar.
• Can essentially last forever, but you might see deadlines like one or two years.
• There are health benefits:
• Weight loss.
• Manage infections
• Promote wound healing.
• Helpful in management of allergies and asthma.
• Reduce skin irritation.
• Watch this video for 11 health benefits.
• However, keep consumption to less than a tablespoon or two per day.
• Yet, their is some support for drinking up to 30 milliliters of apple cider vinegar/day.  One tablespoon is just about 5 mL.

White vinegar:

• Is the cheapest.
• Rice vinegar is fermented from sake, or rice wine.  Tastes different from simple white wine, and is an acquired and required taste for things like sushi.
• Malt vinegar is made from ale, is thus brown, and something you expect for fish and chips.  

Balsamic vinegar:

• Produced in the Modena and Reggio Emilia provinces of Italy.
• Made from concentrated must (freshly crushed juice) of white Trebbiano grapes.
• The traditional version is denoted DOC, (long Italian term) and aged for 12 to 15 years.
• The cheaper non-DOC, called aceto balsamico di Modena, however, is concentrated grape juice mixed with vinegar, colored and sweetened.  Yes, they add sugar.
• Cost?
•  See below, for they vary from 12 cents/ounce up to $20/ounce.
• Watch this video comparing $3 and $150 balsamic vinegar.
• Should you want to learn further, here is a 14-minute video, and a 35-minute version.

Faced with the choice of expensive original balsamic vinegar or cheap sugar-added concocted versions or other vinegars, I chose to return to rice vinegar, for I like the taste, and it costs 100 times lower than the original Balsamic vinegar, and doesn't have the added sugar for the cheaper Balsamics.  Found from Blidz that a gallon of Marukan rice vinegar costs only $4.17.  However, Amazon sells this gallon for $24.  There are 128 ounces in a gallon, so even at that higher rate, rice vinegar from Amazon sells for 19 cents/ounce.  

So someday I will taste test rice vinegar with the original Balsamic, but splurging on 100 ml of Giuseppe Giusti Modena Traditional 25 year old DOP certified Aceto Balsamic Tradizionale Extra Vecchio for $250 from Amazon, I will post on this taste test.  This balsamic vinegar costs $18.75/ounce, or about 100 times more than the rice vinegar.

-