The History Of Vinegar

The ancients were quick to find the remarkable versatility of vinegar. Around 5,000 BC, the Babylonians used vinegar as a preservative and they used vinegar as a condiment, it was they who began flavouring vinegar with herbs and spices.

By about 3000 BC, the making of homemade vinegar was being phased out and, in 2000 BC, vinegar production was largely a commercial industry.

Roman legionnaires used vinegar as a beverage.

Cleopatra demonstrated vinegar has solvent properties by dissolving precious pearls in vinegar to win a wager that she could consume a fortune in a single meal.

Hippocrates extolled vinegar for its medicinal qualities and, indeed, vinegar was probably one of our earliest remedies.

The Greeks also reportedly made pickled vegetables or meats using vinegar.

Biblical references show how vinegar was much used for its soothing and healing properties.

When Hannibal, a great general, crossed the Alps with an army riding elephants, it was vinegar that helped pave the way. Obstructive boulders were heated and doused with vinegar, which cracked and crumbled the barriers.

Helen of Troy bathed in vinegar to relax.

Jesus was offered vinegar before he was crucified.

Vinegar was well known to the European alchemists of the Middle Ages. By pouring it over lead, they made a sweet tasting substance they called "sugar of lead", which was used well into the nineteenth century to smooth and sweeten a harsh cider. Unfortunately lead acetate is also very poisonous and it caused the early death of many a European cider drinker. (Vinegar should never be stored in metallic containers made from lead, copper, or iron nor in crystal glass, which contains a high level of lead.)

During the Bubonic Plague people poured vinegar on their skin to protect themselves from germs.

Louis XIII of France (1601-1643) is reported to have paid 1.3 million francs for the vinegar used to cool the cannons of his army during just one of his many battles. Vinegar, when applied to the hot iron cannons not only cooled them but helped clean the surface metal while inhibiting rust formation.

During the American Civil War, vinegar was used to treat scurvy, and as recently as World War I, vinegar was being used to treat wounds.

The healing virtues of vinegar are even extolled in children's nursery rhymes as having fallen down and broken his crown - Jack went to bed to mend his head with vinegar and brown paper!!