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Show Making Vinegar at Home Since vinegar is indispensable both in pickling, and in ordinary cooking, and since it is, also, rather an expensive ex-pensive item . in the food or preserving pre-serving budget, a thrifty housewife will And it advantageous to make the needed supply at home. Vinegar, as its name indicates, was first made from wine. In England Eng-land it was first made from malt liquors a thrifty device for using ale or beer which had soured, and malt vinegar is still preferred by British cooks. However, anything may be used in the manufacture of vinegar, provided it contains enough sugar and is not in any way objectionable. ob-jectionable. In the United States, apple juice is probably most widely preferred for the making of vinegar, but grapes, peaches, oranges, pineapples, pine-apples, and some berries are quite satisfactory. Below is given a method for making mak-ing peach vinegar a method which, except for slight variations, may be used with other fruits. 1. Select fully ripe fruit or overripe, over-ripe, provided any decayed portions are carefully cut away. Juicy peaches are best, but practically any kind can be used. 2. Crush, with a potato-masher, enough peaches about one bushel-so bushel-so that the resultant mash will fill a four-gallon jar two-thirds full. The peaches should be cut in two before crushing but it . is not necessary to remove the pits. 3. Add to the jar of peach mash, a cake of compressed yeast which has been mixed with a small portion of the juice. Cover the jar with a double layer of cheesecloth, and cover to exclude light. Stir daily to break up surface crusts, to prevent molding, and to secure a complete fermentation. This process should require from four to six days. 4. When this alcoholic fermentation fermenta-tion is complete, strain the mash through a cheesecloth to separate the juice from the pulp. 5. Now, in order to secure the necessary acetic fermentation, return re-turn the juice to the jar and add vinegar vin-egar in the proportion of one part to four parts of the juice and cover the jar as before. Very soon a thin coating of film, called "mother of vinegar" will appear. This must not be disturbed. As soon as tests indicate that the required acidity has been secured, filter the vinegar and store in bottles. VINEGAR FROM APPLES If it is desired to use partly rotted rot-ted apples, or windfalls for vinegar, vine-gar, rotten spots must be cut out and the apples washed. Dirty apples, also, should be washed, and no dirt, leaves, twigs, or grass should be allowed to go into the apple press. Apples should be crushed rather than ground, the pressing should be done slowly and as much juice as possible extracted. Usually, from two to three gallons of juice1 will be obtained from a bushel of apples. The juice should stand for a day or two, for sedimentation, in covered receptacles and then be drawn off into other containers, filling them not more than two-thirds full. Macerate Mac-erate compressed yeast in a quart of the juice, using one cake for each five gallons of juice, and add to the juice in the containers. After about a week, the alcoholic fermentation having taken place, acetic fermentation fermenta-tion may be accomplished by the addition ad-dition of vinegar to the juice, as explained ex-plained in the directions for making peach vinegar. When the required acidity is secured, draw the vinegar off carefully, bottle and store. CAUSES OF FAILURE The chief causes of failure are, (1) use of material too low in sugar content, (2) failure to secure alcoholic al-coholic fermentation and acetic fermentation, fer-mentation, in the order given, and. (3) failure to check acetic fermentation fermen-tation at the proper point. IMPORTANCE OF AGING When vinegar is first made it has a raw, biting taste. Mellowness of taste may be secured only by proper aging. Consequently, vinegar should be stored for six months or a year before being used, if it is to attain its highest quality. VINEGAR REGULATIONS Although vinegar for home use may be made at home or on the farm without a permit, it must be noted that there are federal and state regulations governing the manufacture man-ufacture and distribution of vinegar which is to go on the market. Anyone Any-one planning to make and sell vinegar vine-gar must acquaint himself with such regulations. Further information in this field may be secured by sending five cents to the Supers intendent of Documents, Washington, D. C, and asking for Farmers' Bulletin No. 1424. MAKING A HOT-BED Dig a shallow pit, 8 to 18 inches deep and pack it full of fermenting stable manure which, before being placed in the pit, has been turned over once or twice to make sure of even heating. When the manure has been put into the pit and thoroughly thor-oughly tramped down, cover it with three or four inches of fine garden soil. A framework of boards, about 24 inches high at the back and 12 inches at the front, slanting toward the south, is fitted over the pit to hold the hot-bed sash. |