So, I like me some berry infused vinegar AND I like to store berries in vinegar for the winter and then eat them. Kismet because storing berries in vinegar automatically makes berry infused vinegar.
I have several quarts still from last fall. All is well with the big mason jars of berries in vinegar.
Once I eat all the berries from a jar, I move the vinegar into flip-top or screw top sturdy bottles.
Since I was going to be gone for a while in March and the weather would be cold, I brought all glass containers of liquids to the office for storage. At home, they might freeze and bust and make a big mess.
After I was home and the weather warmed up a bit, I brought a couple bottles of the vinegar home again. This would be last Friday. I get home, after carrying the vinegar bottles and some other food products in a cooler...because we don't want that to spill. I bring it in, take the stuff out and put it on the table that is my kitchen. Take cooler outside...add it to the pile on the porch because I don't have room for that nonsense inside the house.
I look at the huckleberry vinegar. It is deep deep purple. I was wondering if it was still fizzy like before I left when I burped it to let the pressure off. (Reminder: we're in the house, it's purple vinegar that just made a 30minute ride in a bumpy pick up and was hauled up the hill in a cooler balanced on my waist).
WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!
Yes, it was still fizzy.
It was (past tense) in a flip top bottle which can take lots of pressure. However, when you release the fliptop said pressure releases. Lots of vinegar came along for the ride. DEEP PURPLE VINEGAR.
Like this but a higher geyser and more purple:
Fortunately, I did suppress the urge to stick my hand over the geyser of purple vinegar foam. Hence just one big blotchy line of splatters on the floor, kitchen table, rugs, everything on the kitchen table, some adjacent items like a brand new teal baseball cap and a yoga mat.
I made it outside where it continued to geyse while I mopped up with old dish towels and some new TP. No paper towels in my house.
I got to spend my evening dealing with the kitchen area and bare unfinished wood floor, and much of the weekend trying to get stains out of the hat and the worst hit rug. The rugs will eventually go to the laundromat. I don't really care if they have some stains. They are old and not my good rugs. The hat...I wanted to call Gram...mistress of all things laundry but she's dead and I couldn't find my ouija board. Damn. I seem to be the laundry headmistress now so I faked it. Water... stain spray and laundry detergent were what I had. Soaked up the worst of it with some baking soda because it is super dry and pulls stains out of stuff. That helped. Then the hat gets spot cleaned with the various detergents and into a soak bucket for a day...then a day and a half. Finally, rubbing alcohol on a q-tip. It's pretty good. I can see slightly dark blotches where the purple vinegar hit, but otherwise, pretty damn good. Spot cleaned the worst hit rug and put it in the left over hat water for a day. It will go to the laundry with the other two lesser rugs.
The bare wood floor...just soaked up what I could with the white cotton old (that makes them more absorbent) towels and TP. Can't really see where the stuff hit.
Got to spend lots of Saturday doing dishes outside. It was warm anyway. I figured if I had to do the whole kitchen table including stuff that is more storage than utensil, might as well do everything. That took a couple hours.
As a result, about half my place is spring cleaned. That's fine. Not what I planned to achieve over the weekend but it's done now. And I got a bit of a tan by wearing a tank top while dish washing and hand laundering outside.
