SC - Toys for Tots and other comments

[BalthazarBlack@aol.com]

Lee-Gwen Booth wrote:
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From:  Selene
> 
> > White Vinegar isn't a foodstuff, it's
> > a cleaning chemical at best.
> 
> And as a cleaning product it works very well!  Mix it with a little bicarb
> and you have a product that will clean almost any surface (and, I think, do
> a pretty good disinfecting job as well, but I stand to be corrected on this
> one - please!  I do want to know if I am wrong).
> 
> Gwynydd

Distilled white vinegar is a solution of acetic acid in water, nothing
more, nothing less, nowadays usually at 5% strength. You can use it for
anything, as per your wishes. Its very neutrality of flavor does make it
appropriate for certain culinary uses, although as a flavoring in salads
and such, it wouldn't be my first choice. Sneering at its [sometimes]
industrial origins is like sneering at salt. "Ow, I only buy 'and
poolverrized sahlt soohn-drried in th' Mediterrrranean Bayssin -- I get
it at Markssss an' Spensah!!!" (Sorry, I need to brush up on my Alexei
Sayle accent...)

I seem to recall, though, using about a cup of chlorine bleach, a
half-cup of 'and poollverrized  -ahem- salt, and a half-cup of baking
soda per sinkful of hot water for a sterilizing rinse for dishes and
pots. As I started writing this I had the idea that vinegar was
involved, but then genuine memory kicked in (my bloodstream is at the
moment a tea-free zone). Vinegar is probably a good way to discourage
the growth of many kinds of bacteria, but I don't know that it will kill
them, and when mixed with bicarb, I suspect it reacts mostly with the
bicarb and even the pH advantage is lost. You may get "scrubbing
bubbles" out of it, but I don't think you can CO2 most bacteria to
death. FWIW, a spray bottle of dilute bleach solution (the chlorine
evaporates after a bit, but you can do a plain-water rinse if it bothers
you), and alcohol baby-wipes (the cheap ones without moisturizers) are
often seen in commercial kitchens for disinfecting.

Adamantius  
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com