Does anyone use vinegar on spinach or greens? There used to be a country cafe that served a wonderful ham 'n' beans, cornbread and spinach blueplate special. They had little bottles of vinegar to splash onto the spinach and it was DELICOUS.

My question is, is or was this vinegar full strength, or diluted with something. Most vinegar labels say 5-7% acididy, is this too strong for consumption? My concern is it might be too strong for my stomach. I hate to sound ignorant and I don't know where else to ask this question.

Thanks and have a great day

Gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), February 23, 2002

Answers

Vinegar on spinach is normal in my family and my designated other's family. We use straight cider vinegar. Add THINLY sliced garlic, too!

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), February 23, 2002.

Gene, I've never considered any greens without a dash of vinegar. Lettuce needs other treatment but real greens need only a good shot of cider vinegar. That's normally amber colored rather than the white distilled type which is 95% water instead of juice. Vinegar is normally maximum 7% acid. White vinegar may be as low as 4%. The difference in terms of affecting your stomach is very little when compared to what that acid may be doing to prevent kidney stones. I'll take a mildly upset stomach over the later any day!

-- Martin Longseth (paquebot@merr.com), February 23, 2002.

Ditto to the vinegar on spinach and greens, and don't hold back on the cooked beets either. :)

-- Thrifty Sarrah (olefashion@hotmail.com), February 23, 2002.

Gene, I belive it is Heinz that also puts out a salad vinegar. You can use just plain vinegar, but the salad vinegar is delicious and comes in a glass bottle that has a top where you can sprinkle the vinegar on greens. It must have other things in it that give it a great taste. Really good.

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), February 23, 2002.

Lemon juice is good. Lime juice is terrific. They both add Vitamin C as well. Balsamic vinegar tastes good as well, though.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 23, 2002.

This site has a wealth of information on everything vinegar: Vinegar Man Site, http://www.vinegarman.com/ “The Vinegar Man is the founder and head of the International Vinegar Research Institute. The International Vinegar Research Institute has a mission to study, gather, utilize and make available information on vinegar”

“The Associated Press declared " (This) tome tells everything the reader might want to know about vinegar: History, commercial production, vinegar making as a hobby, understanding vinegar and how it's produced, flavoring vinegar, and health benefits and medical uses.”

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), February 23, 2002.

Try balsamic, also. I always put a teaspooon of cider vinegar in every quart of green beans in the canner. I t adds a very subtle boost to the flavor, and it acts as an additional preservative.

-- Lisa (vadas@nfdc.net), February 23, 2002.

This sounds wonderful! Thank you for giving me a new idea for the foods I love.

-- Susan in Minnesota (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), February 23, 2002.

Growing up, we always had cooked kale with pickle juice on it.

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), February 23, 2002.

Yes, my husband like it this way. We keep a little bit of cider vinegar in a small container on the table for this.

I like mine with homemade chow-chow. Oh, and some crowder peas or beans.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), February 23, 2002.

We always use hot vinegar on greens. Fill a jar with hot peppers then fill up with cider vinegar. Boy, that's delicious on collards and mustard greens. When you run out of the vinegar just add more until the peppers look like they are turning dark. It's probably ready to use in a month or less.

-- Sheila in NC (nannie@intrstar.net), February 23, 2002.

Steamed spinach with red wine vinegar and butter. . . YUM!!!

-- Laura Rae Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), February 23, 2002.

while on the subject of spinich the red wine vinagar is a really good compliment I like mine as you do a wilted lettuce just mix mostly spinich and a bit of a good variety of leaf lettuce some fresh crumbled bacon and a splash of that hot bacon grease yummie!!!!! I got to get that garden growing now.

-- Ned (homeontherange@hotmail.com), February 24, 2002.

That is the only thing to put on a salad. I usually like to let mine marinate for a while in the vinegar. I've also been known to drink what's left after eating my salad. My wife only lets me do this at home!

-- Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania (kirklbb@penn.com), February 24, 2002.