Speaker 1: Lunch with Piper Hudson and now Consumer Talk featuring Wendy Nola.
Speaker 2: Well, it is lovely to have Wendy back with us
Speaker 2: in studio today. And as I mentioned earlier, we are
Speaker 2: going to be talking about vinegar. You might have heard
Speaker 2: less to discussing this on the Breakfast Show a couple
Speaker 2: of days ago, the fact that there has been a
Speaker 2: vinegar shortage in South Africa that's been having all kinds
Speaker 2: of knock on impacts into other product lines. It is
Speaker 2: a problem that we understand has largely been rectified, but
Speaker 2: a press release that was put out by one of
Speaker 2: the local vinegar manufacturers really peaked our interest and Wendy,
Speaker 2: it sent you down a very tart vinegar rabbit hole
Speaker 2: of sorts, hasn't it?
Speaker 3: It has indeed, But I wanted to we're going to
Speaker 3: talk about the the visa thing first or at the end,
Speaker 3: just well in a minute, okay, yeah, okay, but just
Speaker 3: set out for us what we're going.
Speaker 1: Where are we going with the vinegar story?
Speaker 3: Okay? Sure? So there's yeah, so much to know. And
Speaker 3: I spent probably a ridiculously ridiculous amount of time on this.
Speaker 3: So the difference between the various kinds of vinegar we
Speaker 3: hear the names that we'ver really given it much thought.
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously, white wine vinegar is obvious, read wine vinegar,
Speaker 3: which a lot of the top chefs swear by as
Speaker 3: a as a staple to deal with, you know, to
Speaker 3: cut through too much salt or too much fatter, and
Speaker 3: then what to do what you can do with vinegar
Speaker 3: beyond the culinary as well as you know. I ended
Speaker 3: up being looking at the vinegar mother and what that
Speaker 3: I've never heard that term, and how you can actually
Speaker 3: it's the base of making vinegar, and you can create
Speaker 3: yourself a wonderful mother, yourself with another recipe. It's coming,
Speaker 3: it's coming, It's coming. And of course all the household things,
Speaker 3: the stags and everything, which is funny, a sad pepper.
Speaker 3: When I started consumer journalism all those years ago in
Speaker 3: the late nineties on a durban newspaper, this is like
Speaker 3: a new consumer column, and a lot of readers on
Speaker 3: that urban newspaper weren't really sure because the paper never
Speaker 3: had anything like this before what had entailed, and I
Speaker 3: totally unexpectedly got in undated, and I mean inundated worth
Speaker 3: queries around how do I remove the stain and that
Speaker 3: like some kind of you know.
Speaker 1: Home math astudio exactly, son.
Speaker 3: So there was no Google then, and what I would
Speaker 3: do is as ask my.
Speaker 1: Mom, and the answer was usually vinegar inside.
Speaker 3: It often did involve vinegar.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, so we're going to go there and thank you.
Speaker 2: We've had several people sending through your WhatsApps about how
Speaker 2: you use vinegar in your home in ways that aren't
Speaker 2: quite the norm, shall we say?
Speaker 4: So?
Speaker 2: Obviously we use it when we make salad dressing. You
Speaker 2: use it if you're making your own pickle onions. But
Speaker 2: what other applications keep them coming? We are going to
Speaker 2: reflect them a little bit later on in the show.
Speaker 2: So please tell us about your hacks, whether it's cleaning
Speaker 2: and disinfecting or health use. What is the use of
Speaker 2: vinegar that you swear by in your house? Pop through
Speaker 2: a WhatsApp to seven two five six seven one five
Speaker 2: six seven. But before we get stuck into the sour Wendy,
Speaker 2: we have a little suite to share with our own.
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm sorry I was jumping the gun there, but
Speaker 3: a few minutes ago, so you remember, well, if you
Speaker 3: missed last week's show, we heard from Philip Berman about
Speaker 3: his agonizing way for a visa that would allow him
Speaker 3: to visit his family in Dublin and particularly his beloved
Speaker 3: nine year old granddaughter. The two of them have a
Speaker 3: very very special bond. So he applied in March at
Speaker 3: the time, well before there was told I think at
Speaker 3: the time it was nine to twelve weeks at the
Speaker 3: time that you needed. Yeah, that's what was the official line.
Speaker 3: He spent thousands on his trip to Cape Town because
Speaker 3: he lives in Victoria West and the Northern Cape. He
Speaker 3: spent thousands to get you via overnighting and George.
Speaker 2: And he also spent thousands on his plane ticket because
Speaker 2: they told him he had to book it.
Speaker 3: Remember before he applies exactly and he got a he
Speaker 3: got a special that's now for him to get the
Speaker 3: same ticket would be double. So there was such a
Speaker 3: lot of there is such a lot at stake. So
Speaker 3: the good news is that he said me yesterday to
Speaker 3: say his name. We spoke about that Irish government portal
Speaker 3: that you it is the only means of getting any
Speaker 3: information and it is in the form of not an update.
Speaker 3: Your name is either there, having you successful and getting
Speaker 3: your visa, or it's not there and It was there
Speaker 3: on Tuesday when Philip check and I was, you know,
Speaker 3: what's happening in all these you know, elated celebratory emotives
Speaker 3: and then he was like, no, but there's another problem now.
Speaker 3: So there's passports with VFS. I haven't quite established it
Speaker 3: for it was in Pretoria or here in Cape Town,
Speaker 3: but he had paid. He paid one thousand rand for
Speaker 3: that visa to VFS in March. Here in Cape Town,
Speaker 3: he paid the Irish government actual visa fee, he paid
Speaker 3: the VFF VFS processing fee, and he paid a courier
Speaker 3: fee because given that he lives away out he didn't
Speaker 3: want to have to make that trip again at the
Speaker 3: cost of seven thousand rand return or whatever, so he
Speaker 3: thought they can courier it to me. So he doesn't
Speaker 3: have his passport in hand, and it's actually quite critical
Speaker 3: now because we're sitting It's Wednesday. He flies. His flight
Speaker 3: is from Joe Book to Dublin on Tuesday. He has
Speaker 3: to overnight in George because at night a lot long story,
Speaker 3: so he flies to Georgie overnights he flies, so he
Speaker 3: leaves his home essentially bottom line, at one o'clock lunchtime
Speaker 3: is on.
Speaker 1: Monday, that's the deadline.
Speaker 3: He has got to say, sorry, start the tuesday onesday.
Speaker 1: Tuesday, so he needs.
Speaker 3: To pretty much Monday, because he, I mean, Tuesday morning
Speaker 3: is forty late. He needs that. He needs that passport
Speaker 3: to be delivered to him in his home on Monday.
Speaker 3: And we now how many business days I don't.
Speaker 1: Know weekends, Thursday, Friday and Monday. That's three work three busurs.
Speaker 3: So yeah, he whatsapped me to say, I've checked with FDIX.
Speaker 3: They have not received my passport from VFS. When I applied,
Speaker 3: he was handled a FedEx tracking number, he says. FedEx
Speaker 3: tells me that they cannot go and pick up the
Speaker 3: passport from VFS. They have to wait for VFS to
Speaker 3: initiate the process and say come and fetch the come
Speaker 3: and get it. So I have emailed VFS's outsourced PR
Speaker 3: agency and all the internal addresses that she used to
Speaker 3: replied all to say, now, just contact the courier, get
Speaker 3: this to happen, because I mean, I know Phillip's anxiety
Speaker 3: levels or through the but I've been holding his hand
Speaker 3: through this thing and I'm feeling super I haven't got
Speaker 3: anything at stake. It's just that I'm living I'm living
Speaker 3: sort carries through his stress and feeling. I mean, I
Speaker 3: just can't bear that it's now granted, but he still
Speaker 3: now has this anxiety over is he actually going to
Speaker 3: get the passport in hand before he leaves his home
Speaker 3: at lunchtime on Tuesday.
Speaker 2: Well, I hope that when we come to air next
Speaker 2: week we will be telling you that Philip is on
Speaker 2: a plane.
Speaker 3: We'd better on his way.
Speaker 1: We'd better, But we will keep you posting on this one, okay.
Speaker 2: So Fenger's cross toes crossed everything you can claip us
Speaker 2: please for Philip.
Speaker 1: That that passport gets there.
Speaker 3: There are many others in this situation, and many have missed,
Speaker 3: as we read last week, have missed out on important
Speaker 3: trips because it just didn't happen. But Philip's now become
Speaker 3: our post.
Speaker 2: Of yes, okay, So we will let you know the
Speaker 2: final chapter of that saga when we chat this time
Speaker 2: next week. For now, though, let's let's move on to
Speaker 2: the vinegar story and Wendy, I mean, in the course
Speaker 2: of looking into what is now actually almost a non
Speaker 2: story because the vinegar shortage is coming to an end,
Speaker 2: but you found out all kinds of interesting things about
Speaker 2: the way it's made, and yes, the real thing versus
Speaker 2: the invitations thing, and.
Speaker 3: Why not and fix it up? What's not the normal
Speaker 3: thing we do? But it sort of happened just the
Speaker 3: way it happened. So the first thing I found out
Speaker 3: is that the name means sour wine, which is not
Speaker 3: anything that I'd ever contemplated. Even if the VI I
Speaker 3: need anything to do with wine, it never occurred to me.
Speaker 3: So it is sour wine and the real stuff. I
Speaker 3: will talk about the imitation stuff just now, and I
Speaker 3: learn something interesting there as well. Is made via a
Speaker 3: two step fermentation process. So the first step is that
Speaker 3: the sugars are converted to alcohol. The sugars in the
Speaker 3: in the grape, the wine grape or the apple or
Speaker 3: cider or whatever the case may be converted to well,
Speaker 3: then it becomes alcohol. Then a second fermentation converts the
Speaker 3: alcohol to acetic acid, which is the main component of vinegar.
Speaker 3: And then different kinds of vinegar are created by using
Speaker 3: various base ingredients fruits or grains. I do a lot
Speaker 3: of Asian cookings always have rice vinegar, and obviously that
Speaker 3: comes from ice, which then influences the final flavor. So
Speaker 3: apple cider vinegar is made from fermented apple juice. Red
Speaker 3: wine vinegar from red wine, and you get the picture
Speaker 3: of right wine vinegar. So balsamic vinegar is made by crushing.
Speaker 3: And I never really knew this. I never bothered to
Speaker 3: find out balsamic vinegar, and it can, I mean it
Speaker 3: can be huge, a huge price because of the process
Speaker 3: that we've all heard of Maderna and everything. But essentially
Speaker 3: it's made by crushing grapes, including the seeds and the stems. Also,
Speaker 3: I didn't know that either to create what's called a must.
Speaker 3: The must is then simmered to concentrate the sugars and
Speaker 3: then fermented. And this is where the expensive bit comes in.
Speaker 3: You if you buy the top stuff, it's aged in
Speaker 3: wooden barrels for years, often decades, and during that aging
Speaker 3: process it's transferred to smaller barrels of different woods, enhancing
Speaker 3: the flavor complexity. Traditional balansomic vinegar from Moderna or Reggio
Speaker 3: Emilia follows very strict regional standards and regulations and so
Speaker 3: that you know, it's like, you know, like whiskey or
Speaker 3: wine aged in the woods. And so it made me
Speaker 3: think of it long ago when I was still based
Speaker 3: in urban a top urban chef contacted me furious because
Speaker 3: she'd heard something. Her normal supplier was on leave or something.
Speaker 3: I don't know, but she used this new supplier. She
Speaker 3: ordered five liters of balsamic vinegar from the supply, and
Speaker 3: she paid top price for it, and she delivered this
Speaker 3: five liter bottle, unlabeled, just this five liter bottle, and
Speaker 3: she said, I want you to taste it. It's absolute rubbish.
Speaker 3: And I can't even remember what I did with that story.
Speaker 3: But yeah, clearly there's a lot of expensive food ingredients.
Speaker 3: We've talked about honey often enough, Olive oils another that
Speaker 3: are that are faked, and obviously balsomic vinegar, given that
Speaker 3: the good stuff can go for quite a price, is
Speaker 3: one of those products that is a subject of food forgery.
Speaker 2: Interesting in food in the production market. Okay, so be
Speaker 2: aware if you're not paying a good rate for balsomic
Speaker 2: vinegan in particular, question whether you are in fact getting
Speaker 2: proper vos is the message.
Speaker 1: Now, what about the imitation stuff?
Speaker 3: Okay, So what I learned that I knew there was
Speaker 3: imitation stuff. I wanted to know. You know that you
Speaker 3: get some cheap stuff in the supermarket. I use it
Speaker 3: for sproat vinegar. I use it as a instead of
Speaker 3: a fabric softna with a couple of drops of essential oil.
Speaker 3: So I wanted to know, could that be imitation because
Speaker 3: it's you know, or would they have to label? So
Speaker 3: the food labeling regulations in this country require a label
Speaker 3: declaration that says this is imitation. So if the label
Speaker 3: doesn't say imitation, and you're buying it from you know,
Speaker 3: a reputable outlet store, supermarket, then you can it has
Speaker 3: gone through the fermentation process. It has not been in
Speaker 3: the beautiful oak barrels and all of that that the
Speaker 3: bolsimica goes in. But it's not imitation. It has been
Speaker 3: fermented to create vinegar in the traditional way.
Speaker 1: How do they create the imitation version?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 1: So is there no fermentation in that process?
Speaker 3: No, there's no fermentation.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: It's a bit like sparkling wine versus mcc okay, where
Speaker 3: then there's certain steps erted wine versus the whole fermentation
Speaker 3: that creates the bottom kind of bubble, the natural bubble,
Speaker 3: as well as that that deep complex flavor. Right, So,
Speaker 3: with imitation vinegar, which incidentally is used by most fish
Speaker 3: and chip shops, chippies in the UK because it is
Speaker 3: it's a it's cheaper, and they add a caramel coloring.
Speaker 3: Basically what they do is mixed water, acetic acid and
Speaker 3: flavorings and colorings to give it that caramel color. And
Speaker 3: because it's so widely you some people say they prefer
Speaker 3: it because it's what they become used to, like some
Speaker 3: people would prefer margurine butter because it's what what they know,
Speaker 3: what they know. So so yeah, if you don't see
Speaker 3: the word imitation vinegar in this country, it is has
Speaker 3: gone through the fermentation process. In the UK they call
Speaker 3: it non brewed condiment, which will tell you it ferment
Speaker 3: it hasn't been brewed NBC for short, so that they
Speaker 3: have to say on the label NBC.
Speaker 2: Okay, So the brown stuff in the chippy is not
Speaker 2: necessarily actually probably.
Speaker 3: Unless it's a very high end niche.
Speaker 2: I mean, one application where I can see that being
Speaker 2: necessary is if you've got a cleontell that includes a
Speaker 2: lot of Muslim customers who aren't got alcohol, you bought
Speaker 2: a product that hasn't been fermented, so that is you
Speaker 2: could use the imitation exactly. And for people who I
Speaker 2: mean totalers for any other reasons, Yeah, Okay, so just
Speaker 2: be aware of that there are imitation vinegars, aren't there,
Speaker 2: but they need to be labeled as such if you're
Speaker 2: buying them here in South Africa, So just read your
Speaker 2: labels carefully if you want to be sure you get
Speaker 2: the real thing that tells me that the stuff up
Speaker 2: or into my fabric software section of my washing machine
Speaker 2: is actually has been fermented in the traditional sense, just
Speaker 2: has been It is not using premium agreement ingredients of
Speaker 2: apples and things. After the break, we're going to share
Speaker 2: some of your tips, but quickly before we get there, Wendy,
Speaker 2: just to recap. The vinegar shortages come to.
Speaker 1: An end, we understand. But what was the main cause
Speaker 1: of that?
Speaker 3: Okay, so there were a few. There was a whole
Speaker 3: lot of things that came together, the rising cost of
Speaker 3: raw materials, logistics constraints, surging demand across the food and
Speaker 3: industrial sectors, and I think what tipped it over was
Speaker 3: a major of in nego manufacturer in South Africa, l
Speaker 3: is HL wholesaler Sorry shut down last year after a
Speaker 3: size investigation led to the discovery of false export documents,
Speaker 3: and the owner was sentenced to fifteen years in prison
Speaker 3: for taxis Okay, so a whole link that was that
Speaker 3: was a major supply.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so it's kind of a perfect storm of
Speaker 2: factors coming together. And of course, as this made us realize, Wendy,
Speaker 2: it wasn't just the vinegar that got harder to find,
Speaker 2: was all the other products vinegar is a component of,
Speaker 2: like mayonnaise, like salad dressings, like tomatoes, sauce.
Speaker 1: The packaging. It felt the knock on impact. Everybody felt it.
Speaker 3: It was there was there was a problem with industrial
Speaker 3: packaging as well at some point, and that affected and
Speaker 3: the supply of vinego as well.
Speaker 1: So, as you say, a real perfect storm.
Speaker 2: Okay, So, but the good news is it does seem
Speaker 2: like that storm is moving on now and the supply
Speaker 2: chain is getting back to normal. So after the news, okay,
Speaker 2: we've got suggestions pouring in, which is wonderful. We're going
Speaker 2: to share those with you. We're also going to share
Speaker 2: Wendy's recipe for the vinegar mother. If you want to
Speaker 2: try and make your own at home, and if anybody
Speaker 2: listening has already done so, please do pop through a
Speaker 2: WhatsApp voice note or text and tell us what you
Speaker 2: learned in the process. Was it easy was it difficult?
Speaker 2: Did it taste as good as the shop bought stuff?
Speaker 2: How long did it last? What do we need to
Speaker 2: know that you discovered by trial and error? Make it
Speaker 2: easier for the rest of us? Oh seven two five
Speaker 2: six seven one five six seven.
Speaker 5: Casal consumer talk. WhatsApp on? O seven to two five
Speaker 5: six seven one five six seven.
Speaker 2: Right, let's dive into the many interesting uses for vinegar
Speaker 2: that we've all found. And I say we because I
Speaker 2: use it sort of label if you like, in my
Speaker 2: house in two ways. Wendy as a cleaning agent. So
Speaker 2: obviously I keep the balsamic, the raspberry vinegar, the wine
Speaker 2: when it gets said for cooking, but for cleaning purposes.
Speaker 2: There are two or three things I swear by it,
Speaker 2: and I always, as a result, have a big bottle
Speaker 2: of just playing spirit vinegar in the kitchen block drains
Speaker 2: a mixture of bi carb and white and spirit vinegar fizzers.
Speaker 1: I swear by its chemicals. From the drain cleaners.
Speaker 2: You pour some bi carb powder into the affected drain
Speaker 2: and then splash over the white wine vinegar, and the
Speaker 2: reaction that it creates is instant physical spying, very satisfying,
Speaker 2: and more importantly, does the trick. Second one is I
Speaker 2: use it every six months or so I give my
Speaker 2: washing machine a good cleanout. I do that too, Vinegar
Speaker 2: into the drum, bikarb into the fabric.
Speaker 3: Softness, good for dealing with soap scum.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and just running on the hottest cycle and it
Speaker 2: lifts all the scum off the inside of the drum.
Speaker 2: And then the third thing is very similarly if you
Speaker 2: wanted to clean your air fryer, and anybody who has
Speaker 2: tried to clean the inside of an air fryer knows
Speaker 2: how to cult it is a little bit of vinegar
Speaker 2: into the bottom with some boiling water. I think I
Speaker 2: had a half a cup of vinegar and two cups
Speaker 2: of boiling water. You run it on its highest heat
Speaker 2: for about five minutes and then leave it to sit
Speaker 2: and steam for about ten minutes. Take out the drawer,
Speaker 2: pour out the vinegar, and just give it a wipe
Speaker 2: down with some kitchen cloth. And you can wipe the
Speaker 2: element as well by then, because the element is cooled
Speaker 2: and all that lovely steam has cleaned off all the gunk.
Speaker 2: So those are the three cleaning purposes I use it
Speaker 2: for in my house. Let's take a look at what
Speaker 2: you are doing. Patricia says, vinegar is an absolute and
Speaker 2: must in our home. I add it to my linen's wash.
Speaker 2: It makes it fresh and brightens the whites. It gets
Speaker 2: rid of ants, mixed with bicarb. It cleans drains, yes,
Speaker 2: it does. She's got another one for that combination though.
Speaker 2: It cleans stainless steel cutlery. I hadn't saw that one,
Speaker 2: She says. I've also used it to clean the extractor
Speaker 2: fan and hood over the stove, and that would make sense,
Speaker 2: very similar to the air fryer story of use to
Speaker 2: get into those very hard little nooks and crannies of
Speaker 2: the heating elements, et cetera, and extracta energy.
Speaker 3: You don't have to worry about what chemicals are going
Speaker 3: to go in there. Maybe interact with your foo food.
Speaker 2: Later on, because it's a food grade product. Danny says,
Speaker 2: on a dry sunny day, I spray vinegar on the
Speaker 2: weeds and the moss on the pool paving and the driveway,
Speaker 2: and it kills them. Trish says, I swear by this mixture.
Speaker 2: I've passed it on to all of my friends as
Speaker 2: a cleaning mixture. A good squirt of sunlight liquid three
Speaker 2: good glugs of white vinegar. Put that in a spray bottle,
Speaker 2: fill it up to the top with hot tap water
Speaker 2: and put the spray nozzle on. Mix it all up,
Speaker 2: and then use this mixture when doing dishes by hand,
Speaker 2: especially for greasy frying plans. You just spray it on
Speaker 2: scrub with a long handled dishbrush and watch it magically
Speaker 2: clean everything. I also use this on collars and cuffs,
Speaker 2: on counters, mirrors, windows, the shower door, the bathrooms. It
Speaker 2: gets rid of smells quickly. It decreases build up quickly.
Speaker 2: Don't make it too strong because you don't want to
Speaker 2: have to rinse. Approximate measurements or one teaspoon of sunlight
Speaker 2: to three dessert spoons of white vinegar to five hundred
Speaker 2: miles of hot water and Trisha. Interestingly, that's the recipe
Speaker 2: I was given as a toilet spray during the drought crisis.
Speaker 2: We're trying not to flush, and I've still got that
Speaker 2: bottle in my kitchen in my bathroom, exact same measurements
Speaker 2: teaspoon of sunlight liquid, three dessert spoons of white vinegar,
Speaker 2: and five hundred miles of hot water. So Trisha's all
Speaker 2: purpose cleaner is made with those ingredients. Jill says, I
Speaker 2: made apple cider vinegar, which was quite an experiment. I've
Speaker 2: still got bottles and bottles of it. I drink it
Speaker 2: with some sparkling water. Now here we go. Some of
Speaker 2: my bottles produced a mother, which I never knew what
Speaker 2: to do with, so I just bottled them in vinegar
Speaker 2: and then I had to chuck them out recently because
Speaker 2: they were so disgusting. And the biggest problem I had
Speaker 2: was fruit flies. Where they came from, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I then read to put some apple side of vinegar
Speaker 2: and sunlight liquid in a small container, which would drown them.
Speaker 2: It was huge fun. Now sorry about sorry for the
Speaker 2: fruit flies. When need explain to us what the mother is, please.
Speaker 3: Okay, So now I've got to find it in my
Speaker 3: notes because we've gone Okay. So it's a gloopy, jelly
Speaker 3: like blob of cellulars like I would say, more of
Speaker 3: a disc lot, more of a disc than a clob
Speaker 3: that would sit at the top of the liquid. So
Speaker 3: it transforms alcohol into tangy, tasty vinegar, and it can
Speaker 3: go on to make many many more batches. I don't
Speaker 3: know if it ever goes into manymporus stops being able
Speaker 3: to do it. But anyway, so here's what you do,
Speaker 3: and I've googled this and tried to find the best recipes.
Speaker 3: So in a glass container, you mix two cups of
Speaker 3: raw apple cider or diluted wine. So it would be
Speaker 3: one to one with water of cider or sorry apple
Speaker 3: sader on its own, or diluted wine one to one
Speaker 3: with a quarter of a cup of raw unfaulted vinegar.
Speaker 3: So I said, okay, what is raw unfaulted vinegar. It's
Speaker 3: the kind that you get from health shops. Look for
Speaker 3: cloudy sediment, because that's actually sediment of mother right. Okay,
Speaker 3: you're propagating it, right. So you get two cups of
Speaker 3: cider or diluted wine with a quarter of a cup
Speaker 3: of raw unfaulted vinegar.
Speaker 1: You cover that in your.
Speaker 3: Glass container with cheese clo some fabric that breathe, and
Speaker 3: you store it in a warm, dark place. Those are
Speaker 3: hard to find now between twenty and thirty degrees centigrade.
Speaker 3: So maybe this is a summer thing in Cape Ton
Speaker 3: and way two to eight weeks and this jelly like
Speaker 3: mothers informs on the surface and then you can use
Speaker 3: bits of that to propagate it, so I would make
Speaker 3: mine taste really be really tasty with you know, whether
Speaker 3: it's apple or whatever you want to be the base
Speaker 3: and red wine whatever, and then you go on and
Speaker 3: I am so going to try this. I had never
Speaker 3: even heard of a vinegar moth before. I mean, clearly
Speaker 3: not a very good Martha Stewart. But I have returned
Speaker 3: to making my own salad dressings because even the premium ones,
Speaker 3: they're expensive, and I don't think they taste as good
Speaker 3: as as homemade. So I'm going to be putting my
Speaker 3: new vinegar into my own salad dressings. Okay, future will report.
Speaker 1: Let us know.
Speaker 3: We've got a few moments at the end of another
Speaker 3: series show.
Speaker 1: Okay, let us know how the mother goes.
Speaker 2: Please, this is going to be a familiar voice, and
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to hearing this particular application.
Speaker 4: Hello, BIPA. Interestingly enough, we use vinegar in the in
Speaker 4: the industry when we need to book clear calcium. So
Speaker 4: if you ever seen these inner garage where the water
Speaker 4: drips and there's this cake of calcium vinegar clean.
Speaker 2: Well, oh yeah, we lost half the voice note there,
Speaker 2: but vinegar clears away calcium build up. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Underload ambrosio idy man with that feedback, So that would
Speaker 2: make sense as to why it works on the shower doors.
Speaker 3: It does, and I was going to say, apparently breaks
Speaker 3: down so very good for stains which we all experience
Speaker 3: coffee and tea stains out of mugs. Just yeah, so
Speaker 3: try your concoction.
Speaker 2: Just plain vinegar, okay, So for a stained mug, just
Speaker 2: put some plan Okay.
Speaker 3: You see how much you need to do the trick.
Speaker 2: Faldila says her vinegar tip is to use half a
Speaker 2: cup of vinegar in a bucket of water to clean
Speaker 2: laminated flooring and ceramic tiles, no build up. And have
Speaker 2: you seen the cost of tile cleaner because Alda, that's
Speaker 2: a very useful tip, Thank you very very much.
Speaker 1: Indeed, what else have we got here?
Speaker 2: Peter and Kennilworth says you've probably heard about the vinegar
Speaker 2: and buikob unblocking the kitchen sinker, you and I both.
Speaker 2: Peter Sheila says, besides a dash of white vinegar on
Speaker 2: my smashed on toast, I use it in place of
Speaker 2: softener in my laundry too. I've stopped using fabric softna altogether.
Speaker 2: So maybe I must try the vinegar, but I haven't
Speaker 2: missed it. I've got to be honest. And then Tony's
Speaker 2: got a health you. So he says, I drink a
Speaker 2: small glass of apple cider vinegar every day. It's meant
Speaker 2: to be very good for you. And he then sent
Speaker 2: me the follow up text about the re which which
Speaker 2: suggests it supports healthy blood glucose levels and can help
Speaker 2: lower cholesterol levels. Apple cider vinegar, Okay, please discuss. Please
Speaker 2: discuss that with your doctor before you start playing around
Speaker 2: with it, and make sure that you're diluting said vinegar properly,
Speaker 2: et cetera. Sarah in Heart Based says, my husband and
Speaker 2: son generate a huge amount of really smelly washing.
Speaker 1: Doesn't that apply to every household? She says?
Speaker 2: I add three cups of vinegar to my top loader
Speaker 2: with the washing liquid. That's a lot a lot. Chemical
Speaker 2: reaction of weak acid with ammonia helps to get the
Speaker 2: smellies fresh again, and it's also good for the stainless
Speaker 2: steel drum of the machine.
Speaker 1: Three cups a lot.
Speaker 3: It's also came up a few times in my research
Speaker 3: those tubborn male armptaine. Yes, it's apparently squirt of that
Speaker 3: on there is very good for lifting those out. I mean,
Speaker 3: we sound like Kim and Aggy from How Clean Is
Speaker 3: Your House?
Speaker 2: Okay, keep us in mind for the sequel, please. JD
Speaker 2: asks an interesting question. I don't know if you know
Speaker 2: the answer, Wendy, but he's asking how long can you keep.
Speaker 1: The arsenic vinegar once it's open? There's no expiry date
Speaker 1: on it.
Speaker 3: Ah, that's a very good question, and I should have
Speaker 3: mentioned this in my prep, so thank you for the prompt.
Speaker 3: It's one of the few products that doesn't legally in
Speaker 3: terms of our food labeling regulations, need a datemark. That's
Speaker 3: the official name, the proper name for expiry dates, because
Speaker 3: they're not actually expiry date. Yeah, let me not go
Speaker 3: down there. So, along with honey sugar, it doesn't need
Speaker 3: an expiry date because it lasts forever.
Speaker 1: Okay, So you can keep on using it.
Speaker 2: You might just need to filter off some of the
Speaker 2: sediment that gathers if you have kept it a very
Speaker 2: long time off the top, JB.
Speaker 1: Or use it to try and grow your next batch.
Speaker 1: But there we go.
Speaker 2: Janis reckons you can use verjuice instead of vinegar. It's
Speaker 2: a much softer acid, and it's made from half ripe grapes,
Speaker 2: not wemented, therefore no ascetic ascid. Also quite an expensive
Speaker 2: route though, because virtue costs an arm and a leg,
Speaker 2: doesn't it. Meghan, thanks for the tip telling us that
Speaker 2: at Babylon's Turin they make balsamic vinegar and you can
Speaker 2: see how it reduces and watch the process.
Speaker 1: That's fascinating to watch. Megan times.
Speaker 3: Oh, sorry, mamac I've been many times and didn't know that,
Speaker 3: so that's very good to know. I'll certainly seek that
Speaker 3: out next day.
Speaker 2: And then Mandy is just wanting to check that she
Speaker 2: heard you clearly, because she is seeing permutations in this
Speaker 2: conversation that we did not anticipate to listen to this.
Speaker 2: So I just want to be fresh to be clear.
Speaker 2: Balsamic vinegar, the good stuff is made by fermenting the skin,
Speaker 2: the pips and the juice of the grapes. I want
Speaker 2: to impress this Italian friend who married an Italian but
Speaker 2: was born here, claims she's Italian and knows everything about
Speaker 2: Italian and I want to ask her if she knows
Speaker 2: how they make balsam. I want you to be going
Speaker 2: to say you wanted to impress it an Italian counts
Speaker 2: somewhere and seduce him with the knowledge. Mandy, But okay,
Speaker 2: maybe you can go one up on your friend with
Speaker 2: that knowledge.
Speaker 3: That was my research, so feel free to do your own.
Speaker 3: But yes, that also surprised me, so let us know
Speaker 3: how that pans out.
Speaker 2: Okay, apparently it is called a scobie as well, the
Speaker 2: same as you get a scoby for kocher.
Speaker 1: But I'd rather have Scoby for the vinegar than the
Speaker 1: komb butcher myself. But there we go.
Speaker 2: Thanks Elsa for informing us of that. Right, let's have
Speaker 2: a look here new Sorry, no it's not new. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure there's not a name attached here. Vinegar, wasp
Speaker 2: stings and jellyfish stings and all the spider bites. I
Speaker 2: remember that from blue bottlestings at the beach in East London.
Speaker 2: The life savers always had.
Speaker 1: A bottle of spirit vinegar on hand stings. Thanks for
Speaker 1: reminding us of that. It didn't work for me though,
Speaker 1: I've never been stung. Touch words so.
Speaker 3: Stung and Deban grew up. There was in the surf,
Speaker 3: did everything in the in the water, and I got stung,
Speaker 3: and I did the aloe on the beach. I did
Speaker 3: the vinegar progressed to allergic and ended up in hospital. Boat.
Speaker 2: I was allergic and never knew. Oh my gosh, I
Speaker 2: didn't know you could be. Okay, Fosier that same combination
Speaker 2: with the three dessert spoons of vinegar to uh sorry,
Speaker 2: this is just the vinegar. Three dessert spoons of white
Speaker 2: vinegar to seven fifty mills of water. Fosier uses it
Speaker 2: to spray her roses, plants, and tomatoes. I love the
Speaker 2: idea of being able to use legs booth safe, no
Speaker 2: pesticides needed. Massie bites as well, in addition to the
Speaker 2: wasp stings and jellyfish stings. Sarah's sent a follow up.
Speaker 2: Sarah was the three cups of vinegar that we were
Speaker 2: a bit worried about. She's written to say, I have
Speaker 2: a very large speed queen machine, hence the three cups.
Speaker 2: You really need a strong, large amount to get rid
Speaker 2: of the smellies, and you must understand I.
Speaker 1: Need the big guns.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Sarah. Okay, A few people ask you, how
Speaker 2: do you use that?
Speaker 1: Mother? What do you add to it for the next crop?
Speaker 1: Did you get that far in the explorer? Now you've
Speaker 1: got me Okay.
Speaker 2: So they're going to do some research on it, Lynn,
Speaker 2: but you've got the readys on hard to make it.
Speaker 2: What the next steps will be for making your.
Speaker 1: Batch, It's how much you need to add to it.
Speaker 2: Okay, we haven't got that far into the recipe research,
Speaker 2: I'm afraid, Land, But when you will do a google
Speaker 2: while we take a quick break, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: We'll give you some feedback see what we found. We're
Speaker 2: also going to make space for one or to open
Speaker 2: line questions after this. For now, one more from Michael,
Speaker 2: who says he has used apples side of vinegar with
Speaker 2: a twig of rosemary for shampoo. Used it once a
Speaker 2: week for five years. I swim in the sea all
Speaker 2: the time and this keeps my scalp and hair very healthy.
Speaker 2: Apple side of vinegar with a twig of rosemary. Well,
Speaker 2: given how much I've been struggling with some of the
Speaker 2: local shampoos which just don't seem to lather as they
Speaker 2: used to. I sound so old saying that, but maybe
Speaker 2: I need to try apple side of vinegar with rosemary instead.
Speaker 3: I think it's part of the remember our sunlight dish
Speaker 3: washing liquid.
Speaker 1: Disc Yes, the reformulation of the product to make or
Speaker 1: planet Fi.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's probably what's happened.
Speaker 2: Except you now have to use five times for the
Speaker 2: product to get the same result. That's the conversation for
Speaker 2: another day, Michael. Thanks for the shampoo tip.
Speaker 5: Consume and talk open Lin call two one double four
Speaker 5: six five six seven.
Speaker 2: Bridget says, vinegar is also good to spray on CATWII
Speaker 2: to take the smell away.
Speaker 1: That's good news, Wendy. What did you find out about
Speaker 1: the mother?
Speaker 3: Can I just tell you about I can certainly tell
Speaker 3: you about dog wee And that is the best of
Speaker 3: avercart is t tree oil. You make a solution of
Speaker 3: tea tree oil. It's expensive, but you don't need much
Speaker 3: and it totally takes the smell out. Thanks for the time. Okay,
Speaker 3: So about the mother, the mother of a vinegar, you
Speaker 3: need about ten to twenty percent of the total volume
Speaker 3: that you of vinegar that you're wanting to create. So
Speaker 3: to make a litera you would need one hundred to two.
Speaker 1: Hundred mills of my mother. Okay.
Speaker 3: That helps it tip between ten and twenty percent of
Speaker 3: your intended ultimate volume of vinegar that you're going to create. Okay.
Speaker 2: And then obviously you're going to play around with what
Speaker 2: what sort you want to create at the end, more
Speaker 2: or less for your own personal taste.
Speaker 3: But it's a good question because you you'd and I
Speaker 3: would have had to look it up or fair when
Speaker 3: I try to do this myself, you do need to
Speaker 3: know you've never done it before. Do you need the
Speaker 3: whole disc or watch? So thank you for that question.
Speaker 1: Okay, thanks so much.
Speaker 2: Now on a completely different topic, I think we have
Speaker 2: got time to dis squeeze in one or two open
Speaker 2: line questions, and this is a very current and relevant one.
Speaker 2: So Tyrone, thanks for your patients in waiting for an answer.
Speaker 2: Tyrone says, I booked a spa day at the Spa
Speaker 2: on zeven Wacht State. I booked for the fourth of
Speaker 2: booked on the fourth of July and paid my nine
Speaker 2: hundred and ninety nine rand. They emailed me to confirm
Speaker 2: and check our requirements for lunch. That was on the
Speaker 2: fourth of July. On the ninth of July, received an
Speaker 2: email to say there will be no more treatments. The
Speaker 2: business has been sold. And then what do we do now?
Speaker 2: Because this is the letter that he was sent. Due
Speaker 2: to unforeseen circumstances, we've had to suspend all services until
Speaker 2: further notice. We sincerely appreciate your loyalty and support over
Speaker 2: the years. We're in the process of selling the business
Speaker 2: and therefore cannot commit to any future bookings possible refund
Speaker 2: I'll be communicated in due course. Thank you for your
Speaker 2: understanding and patients. What does one do possible refunds? They
Speaker 2: took a booking five days before announcing they were selling
Speaker 2: the business, shock, totally unconscionable.
Speaker 3: They had to know that that that, of course they
Speaker 3: would not honor that book character So what does Tyrone do?
Speaker 3: He sends me an email with all the details and
Speaker 3: I very nicely try and get told of this.
Speaker 2: That Infinity Wellness SPA Okay, very nicely suggest that yeah,
Speaker 2: they need to refund okay, especially in the case of
Speaker 2: I mean vouchers are valid for for three years, remember, yeah,
Speaker 2: so he yeah, not only should his current booking be
Speaker 2: honored or refunded.
Speaker 3: Older one's chances, but in this case unfornctionable. And that
Speaker 3: is an actual word that the Consumer Protection Protection uses
Speaker 3: a lot, and it's very fitting.
Speaker 2: Okay, So Tyrone, please pop through an email to Wendy
Speaker 2: on Consumer at NOLA dot co dot z spelt k
Speaker 2: n O w l e R. Please put SPA booking
Speaker 2: in the cape talk spar booking in the subject line,
Speaker 2: and Wendy will keep her eye out. Forward forward her
Speaker 2: that letter that you have forwarded to me on WhatsApp
Speaker 2: as well, and she will try and to your money
Speaker 2: back asap. And I'm sure Tyrone's probably not the only
Speaker 2: person similarly affected because it's a very popular facility. That
Speaker 2: so if others have had a similar situation of having
Speaker 2: a prepaid booking that now you've been told won't be
Speaker 2: honored with no promise of a refund, let us.
Speaker 3: Know as well if the difficulty comes when a company
Speaker 3: goes into liquidation, because then you become a credit at
Speaker 3: a long list at the bottom of a long list
Speaker 3: of other creditors such as suppliers come before you and
Speaker 3: all the rest, and then you can only hope for
Speaker 3: a few cents in the rand. But up until that point, yeah,
Speaker 3: and especially as I say, given the timing, he should
Speaker 3: be refunded.
Speaker 1: Okay, thanks.
Speaker 2: And then one from an on email and had a
Speaker 2: subscription to an American company called Headspace. I think it
Speaker 2: was a meditation app or something like that. She used
Speaker 2: to use it, but she no longer uses it, so
Speaker 2: she had no intention of renewing the subscription at the
Speaker 2: end of that year. And she says to me, at
Speaker 2: the time she took out the subscription, it was on
Speaker 2: a credit card payment. Their website in dedicated in writing
Speaker 2: that she would be alerted with a reminder email before
Speaker 2: the subscription became due for renewal, and she says that
Speaker 2: never happened. She didn't get any email. They simply deducted
Speaker 2: another annual subscription fee from her card. And she has
Speaker 2: tried emailing them to say, hey, I didn't want this,
Speaker 2: I want to cancel the subscription, but she's had no
Speaker 2: response and she's all but given up. But she said
Speaker 2: she's worried it's going to happen again next year. And
Speaker 2: her wording to me was, I'm concerned about how to
Speaker 2: avoid this kind of incident going forward, not just with
Speaker 2: this company, but with any others. Now it's an international company,
Speaker 2: so she does South African law apply no.
Speaker 3: But this chargeback does, so I would certainly suggest that
Speaker 3: you know chargeback is a consumer protection that's applied provided
Speaker 3: by the credit card companies Visa master Card worldwide through
Speaker 3: the issuing bank. Soever issued her credit card. You should
Speaker 3: go there and insists that they take forward a chargeback
Speaker 3: dispute and you should get the money back that way.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you go to your bank and ask for
Speaker 2: a charge back, Wendy. This just reminded me, though the
Speaker 2: process for us if a South African company was involved here.
Speaker 2: That requirement to notify a consumer before you renew a subscription.
Speaker 2: Does that apply to any kind of subscription.
Speaker 3: Yes, the same would apply. They would have to notify
Speaker 3: you in advance. The same also applies to your fixed
Speaker 3: term contracts.
Speaker 1: Your news twenty four. I'm looking at you, sorry to say.
Speaker 2: I've been a subscriber since the very first introduction of
Speaker 2: subscription and I've never once received that notification.
Speaker 1: Okay, It's renewed.
Speaker 2: Every year, and I don't mind because I've wanted to
Speaker 2: maintain the subscription, but I've never once received that notification
Speaker 2: from this.
Speaker 3: As far as I'm aware that should there should be
Speaker 3: a requirement for that, I can't think I wouldn't be
Speaker 3: a requirement because the actor is all about transparency and disclosure.
Speaker 3: What you don't want is a company to kind of
Speaker 3: rely on you forgetting and you know, you got to
Speaker 3: remember a year down the line that you've got to
Speaker 3: now cancel. They there should be that reminder.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, yeah, you can't mean you can make
Speaker 2: a note in your diary for three hundred and sixty
Speaker 2: three days time or whatever. But what a slipt for
Speaker 2: you know, every single Paul saying if it's Apple, they'll refund.
Speaker 2: It wasn't an Apple purchase, by the way, Pau. Sorry,
Speaker 2: but and okay, so you go to your bank and
Speaker 2: you ask for the chargeback facility. Is there anything you
Speaker 2: can do in future to avoid this happening to you, Wendy.
Speaker 3: Well, they're avoiding companies as international companies that have auto
Speaker 3: subscription renew and making notes in your digital calendars or
Speaker 3: physical calendars. I mean, those are your two options. Okay, okay, sorry,
Speaker 3: I can just say that I've been reading stuff and
Speaker 3: international publications and news reports. There is a worldwide movement
Speaker 3: to stop auto subscription auto renewals of all kinds, and
Speaker 3: I think that would be wonderful.
Speaker 1: Be fantastic, wouldn't it be fantastic? Okay from your lobstercots,
Speaker 1: else is in charge.
Speaker 2: Wendy, We have to leave it there, But as always,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for all the work on behalf
Speaker 2: of our listeners, And a reminder that if you do
Speaker 2: want to raise a case with Wendy, the best way
Speaker 2: to do that is to go onto her website Wendynola
Speaker 2: dot co dot sed A, and the Nola is spelled
Speaker 2: k n O w l e R.
Speaker 1: She knows an.
Speaker 2: Awful lot about consumer stuff Wendy Nola dot co dot
Speaker 2: se There is a contact form yoh now knows a
Speaker 2: lot about Benegar too, contact form which prompts you for
Speaker 2: all the information that she possibly needs from you and
Speaker 2: really does speed up the process of enabling her to
Speaker 2: help you. So Wendy, we'll chell again next week Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Keep well in the meantime, Thanks