{"id":2955,"date":"2023-07-17T18:50:36","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T21:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/?p=2955"},"modified":"2023-07-17T18:50:36","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T21:50:36","slug":"vinegar-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/2023\/07\/17\/vinegar-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Vinegar – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

While perusing YouTube for something to watch while knitting (please tell me I’m not the only one who does this?) I came across a vlog talking about citrus vinegar. I’ve been making apple cider vinegar for years, but citrus vinegar? From the juiced peels? As the skeptic I am of such things, I tried making a single liter of the stuff first. It worked. Not only did it work, my father really liked the taste. Now, the vlog I watched wasn’t so much suggesting the citrus vinegar for home cooking but rather as a cheap ingredient for making homemade weed killer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercial herbicides are expensive and unpleasant and no one likes them. We tried not using them one year. It was an absolute disaster. I cannot explain how bad it was. We spent literal months attempting to manage the invasive weed growth and it took us nearly a year to claw back to where we had been before we tried only mechanical means to manage weeds. Needless to say, we buy commercial herbicide and just deal with the expense and dislike. But if we could have a large enough volume of homemade vinegar (i.e. free or very cheap) we could try homemade weed killer in some areas under carefully observed conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am always up for ways to reduce bad chemical inputs on the farm, reduce costs, and manage waste. So this year my father and I decided it wouldn’t hurt to see what I could do with citrus vinegar. First step, take the peels, put them in a container with a little bit of sugar – citrus peels aren’t really high in sugar and you need sugar to get the nice bacteria to grow – cover with water and leave them covered but with air access. Vinegar is an aerobic process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For these first batches of vinegar I used our fermentation crocks, without the lids and no water lock. Sadly, photographing inside of dark brown pottery is not easy and my pictures were terrible. Picture rotting citrus peels and you’ll have a good idea of what it looked like. Step 1 involved leaving it all alone for a couple of weeks. The crocks live outside in our make-shift pantry area. To my shock, despite the cold temperatures, it started to smell like vinegar after a couple of weeks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2 was to strain the rotting peels out of the resulting liquid. This was as unpleasant as it sounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cold, wet, smelly, and slimy. Since I don’t like to invest in equipment if I don’t know I’ll use it again I went really low tech, so hands and the ladle we used when fermenting olives. If this whole homemade vinegar thing is deemed successful I am absolutely investing in large strainers for next year. The peels were broken down enough I felt safe creating a citrus-peel only compost pile and have been putting them there. After they fully compost I will be spreading said citrus-based-compost under the citrus trees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the solids are removed, more sugar is added to the in-progress vinegar to help the bacteria continue to develop. There’s a lot more science involved than that, but I’ll be honest and tell you I’m not quite sure I understand it. I’m very happy to have it be a magical process where vinegar just happens. However, I do understand enough of the science to know that temperature affects how well things ferment and too cold means the fermentation slows down or stops. The outside pantry is not warm at the moment so I moved the now liquid-only in-process vinegar to one of my outside rooms which has an oil radiator running on low to help combat winter mildew. I combined a couple of the crocks into one as without solids there was less volume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Because I could, I have three flavors going – lemon, lime, and grapefruit. I have no idea of the resulting vinegars will taste different or the same. But we are going to find out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My outside room now smells very strongly of vinegar. Citrusy vinegar. I’m considering that successful for the moment. I am waiting for the fermentation process to finish using up all available sugars before moving on to the next step. I, in typical me fashion, did a bit of advance research on how to store the vinegar once I think it’s done. Also, how do I know it’s done? According to a very informative post on the blog Urban Fermentation (link<\/a>) this last fermentation can take a while. And if I bottle to soon things can explode. As I have zero interest in shattered bottles and smelly liquid all over my pantry I am very happy to just let the buckets sit in my office until I think they are past done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vinagre – Parte 1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cuando estuve buscando YouTube por algo par mirar mientras tejes (por favor, me diga que no solamente yo hago esto, s\u00ed?) encontr\u00e9 un video sobre vinagre de c\u00edtricos. \u00bfHice vinagre de manzanas por a\u00f1os, pero vinagre de c\u00edtricos? \u00bfHecho de las c\u00e1scaras? Como el esc\u00e9ptico que soy, prob\u00e9 hacer un litro solo primero. Funciono. No solamente funciono, pero mi padre le gusto. En realidad, el video no recomend\u00f3 el vinagre de c\u00edtricos por la concina, sino m\u00e1s bien como un ingrediente en herbicida casera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herbicidas comerciales son caros y desagradables y nadie les gusta. Un a\u00f1o, probamos a no usarlos. Fue un desastre. No puedo decirle que mal fue este experimento. Pasamos meses y meses tratando de manejar las malezas y llevamos casi un a\u00f1o a recuperar el estado de la plantaci\u00f3n y la pradera. No hace falta decir que compramos herbicida. Pero, si pudimos tener un volumen suficiente de vinagre casero (casi sin costo), pudimos probar herbicida casera en algunos lugares, bien controlado y con mucho cuidado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siempre trato de reducir el uso de productos qu\u00edmicos\u00a0en el campo, reducir los gastos, y la gesti\u00f3n de residuos. Entonces, este a\u00f1o, mi padre y yo decidimos que no ser\u00eda mal si pruebo a producir vinagre de c\u00edtricos. Para inciar etapa 1, pone las c\u00e1scaras, con un poco de az\u00facar – c\u00e1scaras de c\u00edtricos no contiene muchos az\u00facares y necesita un nivel de az\u00facares por el crecimiento de la bacteria buena – agrega agua y dejar con un cubierto pero acceso al aire. Vinagre es un proceso aer\u00f3bico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Por estos primeros lotes de vinagre yo us\u00e9 nuestras vasijas de fermentaci\u00f3n, sin tapas y sin bloqueo de agua. Lamentablemente, sacando fotos adentro de cer\u00e1mica mor\u00f3n oscura no es f\u00e1cil y mis fotos estaban terrible. Imagina c\u00e1scaras de c\u00edtricos podridas y puede tener una idea de lo que adentro. Etapa 1 – deja todo sin tocar por algunas semanas. Las vasijas viven en nuestro almac\u00e9n, en el galp\u00f3n. \u00a1Para mi sorpresa, no importa el fr\u00edo, despu\u00e9s de algunas semanas, empez\u00f3 a tener el olor de vinagre!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Etapa 2 – sacar las c\u00e1scaras podridas del l\u00edquido. Esto fue tan desagradable como suena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fr\u00edo, mojado, maloliente y viscoso. Como no me gusta comprar equipamiento, sino s\u00e9 si uso m\u00e1s de una vez, yo use lo que tenemos: las manos y cuchar\u00f3n que usamos con las aceitunas. Si vinagre casero es una cosa \u00fatil y buena, el a\u00f1o que viene compro herramientas mejores. Las c\u00e1scaras fueron tan podridas que hice un lugar con compost de solamente las cascaras y viruta. Despu\u00e9s que el compost est\u00e1 pronto, pongo alrededor de los \u00e1rboles c\u00edtricos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despu\u00e9s que saque los s\u00f3lidos, agregu\u00e9 m\u00e1s az\u00facar al l\u00edquido que queda para ayudar el desarrollo de la bacteria buena. Hay mucha m\u00e1s ciencia, pero, veramente, no lo entiendo bien. Estoy feliz que el vinagre aparece como un milagro despu\u00e9s de un rato. Pero, entiendo suficiente que yo s\u00e9 temperaturas muy bajas, detener o retrasar el desarrollo. Como el almac\u00e9n no est\u00e1 con suficiente calor, el l\u00edquido de Etapa 2 est\u00e1 en baldes nuevos en unas de las oficinas exteriores de la casa m\u00eda. Con un radiador que mantiene la temperatura all\u00ed para evitar la humedad y fr\u00edo del invierno. Yo combin\u00e9 algunas de las vasijas y ahora queda solamente tres baldes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Porque pude, tengo tres gustos de vinagre – lim\u00f3n, lima, y pomelo. No s\u00e9 si los vinagres al fin van a tener gustos distintos o ser\u00e1n todos iguales. Pero vamos a ver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahora mi sala exterior tener un olor fuerte de vinagre. Vinagre c\u00edtrico. En este momento, me parece una buena cosa. Espero que termina la fermentaci\u00f3n antes que sigue a la etapa pr\u00f3xima. Yo, como siempre, investigu\u00e9 un poco como podr\u00eda embotellar el vinagre cuando estera pronta. \u00bfY como voy a saber que est\u00e1 pronta? El blog Urban Fermentation (link<\/a>) dice que est\u00e9 \u00faltima etapa puede llevar un poco de tiempo. Y si embotellamiento demasiado pronto, las botellas explotar\u00e1n. Como no me interesa tener vidrio y vinagre en todo el almac\u00e9n, dejo los baldes en paz hasta creo que la fermentaci\u00f3n est\u00e9 bien terminado.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While perusing YouTube for something to watch while knitting (please tell me I’m not the only one who does this?) I came across a vlog talking about citrus vinegar. I’ve been making apple cider vinegar for years, but citrus vinegar? From the juiced peels? As the skeptic I am of such things, I tried making … Continue reading Vinegar – Part 1<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":34327803,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2013890,1851],"tags":[17262,470205,165929,257008,188083],"class_list":["post-2955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-farm-to-table","category-garden","tag-citrus","tag-fermentation","tag-food-processing","tag-food-science","tag-self-sufficiency","without-featured-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6BeCJ-LF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34327803"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2955"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2989,"href":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2955\/revisions\/2989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapiccolinauy.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}