Vinegar has so many uses for your health, home, and cooking. You can use it to preserve summer harvests, clean your tiles, and condition your hair.
This might all seem fantastical, but really, vinegar is an incredibly versatile product to have on hand. What’s more, it is often very economical and can even be made at home pretty simply.
If you are interested in learning all about the wonders of vinegar, take a look at this compilation of OGP articles that celebrate a lot of what there is to love about vinegar.
1. Apple Cider Vinegar for Your Health
Apple cider vinegar — popularly referred to as ACV — is one of the most widely recognized plant-based natural remedies. Many people swear by its magical powers! It all stems from the main ingredient — nutrient-dense apples — and the fermentation process, which results in apple cider vinegar. Apples are rich in vitamins A, C, K, and folate, as well as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and natural sugar. Plus, apples are a rich source of a special type of fiber called pectin, which is great for your digestive system and gut health. Read on to learn How to Safely Consume Apple Cider Vinegar for its Healthy Benefits!
2. Vinegar in Plant-Based Cooking
Every kitchen has a few different bottles of vinegar stowed away behind the half-used bags of flour and sugar. Yet, while vinegar is generally seen as an ingredient for special recipes, it’s an incredibly diverse and important ingredient. Not only does vinegar preserve and flavor food, but its acetic acid and water mixture makes it a problem solver for routine cooking problems, as well as a great domestic household item. Check out these 10 Creative Ways to Use Vinegar in Plant-Based Cooking
3. Vinegar to Relieve Inflammation
You likely already stock this magical, natural ingredient in your home, but if not, you’ll want to soon. Apple cider vinegar, also known as ACV, is one of the most popular, natural remedies relied on today that has been used for decades to provide healing to all parts of the body. It’s also a fantastic non-toxic cleaning agent to keep around the house, and it even makes an effective— and highly affordable—natural facial toner to relieve acne. If you want to know more, take a look at How to Use Apple Cider Vinegar Internally to Relieve Inflammation.
4. Vinegar to Treat Candida
Chronic yeast overgrowth is something that’s often referred to as candida. If you’re not familiar with it, then basically, all you need to know is that we have all types of yeasts and bacteria in our bodies. Some are good, some are bad, and most live within our digestive tracts. The good “bugs” keep us healthy, and energized, and protect us from the harmful toxins and everyday contaminants we encounter. They also help keep us regular and keep our skin, weight, and immune system in check. Bad yeasts and bacteria do the opposite, and sadly, things that we eat in our diets can often fuel these bad “bugs” to become predominant in our systems, outnumbering the good bacteria. Here are some Tips for Using Apple Cider Vinegar to Treat Chronic Yeast Overgrowth (Candida).
5. Make Your Own Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar, cooly referred to as ACV, is beyond wonderful. Not only is it a flavorful addition to recipes, the likes of beans, salads, and sauces, but it has medicinal qualities so respected that some folks simply ingest it by the spoonful to make sure not to miss a daily dose. And, that’s not even getting into the household uses and hacks that ACV can make a reality. It’s good stuff. It’s powerful stuff. It’s something we should all have in the cabinet. If you are interested in making your own AVC, take a look at this guide on How to Make Your Own Apple Cider Vinegar easily and cheaply at home.
6. Apple Cider Vinegar for Your Bathroom
Apple cider vinegar is getting good press, people, and with good reason: It’s wicked good for our health. (That’s a lot of good swirling around!) This magical mixture can play a beneficial role in the digestive system, preparing the stomach and bowels for a first-rate performance. It can knock out body odors, both in the mouth and, topically, in the pits. But, the buck doesn’t stop there. Apple cider vinegar (ACV), in addition to being amazingly medicinal, is amazingly useful in other ways, and oddly enough, keeping a bottle in the bathroom isn’t such a bad idea. It may seem a little abnormal, but apple cider vinegar is a product that can perform multiple functions in the bathroom — naturally. So, go out and buy an extra bottle or two, or you can just make your own massive batch for next to nothing, and stick it in the loo. Here are 5 Ways to Use Apple Cider Vinegar in the Bathroom.
7. Apple Cider Vinegar around Your Home
White vinegar has stood the test of time. It’s been a household staple throughout my lifetime, but its use dates back even as far as 10,000 years! It was originally discovered by chance when a cask of wine went sour, giving it the name vinegar (sour wine). Fermentation with foods like vinegar has been improving lives naturally for years. However, it should be noted that time has altered the production methods for creating white vinegar. Now, much like everything else, there’s a synthetic and a natural version of white vinegar on the market. Here is an amazing list of 20 Miraculous Ways to Use Vinegar Around Your Home.
8. Apple Cider Vinegar in Your Meals
The many splendid benefits of a daily dose of apple cider vinegar are gaining popularity with people who are looking to take advantage of its many health benefits. With ACV, a couple of tablespoons a day is said to keep the doctor away, with special attention to blood sugar levels, digestive functions, and balancing the body’s pH. It’s good stuff. It’s perfectly acceptable to ingest that daily quota of apple cider vinegar via an upturned tablespoon or tonic elixir; however, it’s also perfectly possible to mix it into meals and still get benefits. Here are eight ways we like to put more apple cider vinegar into our meals. Take a look at these 8 Ways to Get More Apple Cider Vinegar Into Your Meals.
9. Umeboshi Plum Vinegar
Umeboshi vinegar (also known as plum vinegar as well as Ume Su) is the salty, sour, and sweet by-product of the umeboshi-making process. Umeboshi are the red, pucker-up delicious fruits commonly used in Japanese dishes. These fruits, called “ume” in Japanese, are more closely related to apricots than plums. Traditionally, the umeboshi are dried and then preserved in a salty brine, with purple perilla leaves that add a bright red color. These days, however, some brands use red dyes in place of the leaves as well as less salt, which can prompt the use of artificial preservatives. The Eden brand, which is the most widely available in the US, uses the traditional method: The ume fruits are pressed and the liquid that leaks out of them is bottled up for use as a condiment. Learn more about Umeboshi Plum Vinegar: Tips, Health Benefits, and Recipes.
10. Apple Cider Vinegar in Vegan Cooking
This vinegar is made by the fermentation of apple cider. During the fermentation process, the sugar in the cider is broken down by bacteria and yeast into alcohol and then into vinegar. The result is tangy vinegar which is a choice ingredient for making salad dressings. Aside from the tangy taste, there are many health benefits to consuming apple cider vinegar. A study in the journal Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism tested healthy people and found their postmeal blood glucose level was reduced when they added two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar to a meal containing carbohydrates. Read on to learn more about How to Use Apple Cider Vinegar to Ramp Up Your Vegan Cooking.
11. Vinegar to Crus Toxins and Plastics
It doesn’t take long in the DIY scene to learn that vinegar is amongst the most wonderful things in the world. It’s naturally inexpensive for one and inexpensively natural for another (Actually, it’s quite cheap and easy to make vinegar at home). Though we often relegate it to pickles and salad dressings, in reality, vinegar has a wealth of other varied uses, ones that can be instrumental in helping us avoid many of the toxins that have crept into our everyday lives. Here are 6 Life Hacks Using Vinegar That Can Help You Crush Toxins and Plastic in Your Home.
12. Homemade Infused Vinegar
It is the perfect time of year to start thinking about making your own infused oil and vinegar. During summer, farmer’s markets and gardens are bursting with fresh produce that is crying out to be made into delicious and colorful salads. Herbal-infused oil and vinegar can add a little extra something to your salads, giving them an extra hit of flavor as well as a nutrient boost. In addition, there are many benefits of using these infusions topically for your skin and hair. Hair rinses and massage oils can be made from infused oil and vinegar. Different culinary and medical herbs can add an aromatherapy or healing element to your bathtime routine. If this sounds interesting to you, check out How to Make Your Own Herb-Infused Oil and Vinegar.
Related Content:
Easy Ways to Help the Planet:
- Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
- Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
- Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
- Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
- Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
- Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!