Wretched Excess In The Pantry - How Many Kinds Of Vinegar Does One Need?

[zoramargolis]

I was trying to put something away in my packed pantry the other day. Ha, fat chance. It was the oil and vinegar shelf, and I started removing things to try to make space. That was when it hit me--good grief! I am mortified. I started noting what is on the shelf and in my fridge:

Whole Foods balsamic, aged balsamic, berry balsamic, cherry balsamic, fig balsamic, plain rice vinegar, seasoned rice vinegar, champagne, citrus champagne, cabernet, sherry, malt, white vinegar, cider vinegar, key lime vinegar, Japanese plum, Chinese black.

Then the oils-- Italian and Spanish olive oils, several different of each. Orange oil, Meyer lemon oil, grapeseed, peanut, corn, sesame, roasted sesame, almond, pumpkinseed, Szechuan chili oil.

What on earth is the matter with me?

[Barbara]

What on earth is the matter with me? 

Um-m-m-m . . . You like to cook a lot of different stuff?

[Heather]

I don't know what's wrong with you but I have the same malady. We had at least ten varieties when I looked this weekend...everything but the white vinegar we needed to dye Easter eggs.

[Sthitch]

I don't know what's wrong with you but I have the same malady.  We had at least ten varieties when I looked this weekend...everything but the white vinegar we needed to dye Easter eggs.

I find many uses for white vinegar, but mostly not in cooking (I do use them when making pickles though). It is particularly good at killing weeds on my patio and sidewalk (mix it 50/50 with water and spray on the weeds). The plants will take it up and kill them. Quite quick, and if my dog gets some on her paws it will not hurt her.

[TedE]

I was trying to put something away in my packed pantry the other day. Ha, fat chance. It was the oil and vinegar shelf, and I started removing things to try to make space. That was when it hit me--good grief! I am mortified. I started noting what is on the shelf and in my fridge:

Whole Foods balsamic, aged balsamic, berry balsamic, cherry balsamic, fig balsamic, plain rice vinegar, seasoned rice vinegar, champagne, citrus champagne, cabernet, sherry, malt, white vinegar, cider vinegar, key lime vinegar, Japanese plum, Chinese black.

Then the oils-- Italian and Spanish olive oils, several different of each. Orange oil, Meyer lemon oil, grapeseed, peanut, corn, sesame, roasted sesame, almond, pumpkinseed, Szechuan chili oil.

What on earth is the matter with me? 

I try to avoid this at home, with some success. I am really sensitive to oils once they've started the turn towards rancidity and hate the thought of dumping it all down the drain. We just returned from Europe with two large bottles of Spanish and Italian olive oil and am trying to think of ways to use them up. I typically only keep a big bottle of WF oo for general purpose cooking, a smaller bottle of nicer evoo, peanut and sesame oils for salads and stir-frying, that's it.

[Tweaked]

I always seem to end up with lots of extra individual containers of Safeway yogurt, usually lemon flavored...it's like eating lemon pudding with live cultures.

[The Hersch]

I find many uses for white vinegar, but mostly not in cooking

If you have a VERY GOOD DOG who once in a long, long while has a little accident in the Number One department, white vinegar is indispensable. I don't know if this would work if your dog is not a VERY GOOD DOG. (Mine may be reading this.)

[ol_ironstomach]

I was trying to put something away in my packed pantry the other day. Ha, fat chance. It was the oil and vinegar shelf, and I started removing things to try to make space. That was when it hit me--good grief! I am mortified...What on earth is the matter with me? 

Perhaps you're merely trying to maintain parity with the mustard and pepper/chili/hot sauce shelves!

[ScotteeM]

. . . And Mr. S thinks I'm bad about that!

On the white vinegar front, I use it in my laundry, for items that shouldn't be exposed to fabric softener--I put it in the dispenser instead of the fabric softener.

To stay on topic, if one likes to make sauces and vinaigrettes, I believe one cannot have too many different varieties of vinegar.

[zoramargolis]

To stay on topic, if one likes to make sauces and vinaigrettes, I believe one cannot have too many different varieties of vinegar.

Thanks-I needed that! I feel so much better, now.

[JPW]

Off the top of my head I can count 7 oils and 6 different vinegars that live together in perfect harmony, side by side in my cupboard, oh lord why can't we....

[ktmoomau]

I seem to have a lot of jelly and fruit butters right now.  Hubby doesn't like them.  I eat them sometimes, but I really don't need as much as I have, my peanut butter sandwiches are few and far between.  I am trying to think of simple things I could make that use jelly. Specifically I have a cinnamon peach freezer jam, blueberry lavender jelly and habenero hot pepper jelly.  Thoughts?  

[Pat]

I seem to have a lot of jelly and fruit butters right now.  Hubby doesn't like them.  I eat them sometimes, but I really don't need as much as I have, my peanut butter sandwiches are few and far between.  I am trying to think of simple things I could make that use jelly. Specifically I have a cinnamon peach freezer jam, blueberry lavender jelly and habenero hot pepper jelly.  Thoughts?  

Hot pepper jelly is good spread over cream cheese on crackers.  Fruit jellies can always go on toast, buttered or not.  The cinnamon peach jam might be nice on raisin bread or a cinnamon raisin bagel.

[weezy]

crepes or blintzes with mascarpone & fruit jelly

[saf]

Fruit jellies and jams make good breakfast when stirred into yogurt. Or linzertorte. Or filling for muffins.

Hot pepper jam on a sandwich with cheese and salad greens. Or next to a cheese plate. Or to glaze roasted chicken or grilled pork chops. Or a spoonful on top of mac and cheese.

[The Hersch]

I don't think of it as wretched excess but rather glorious bounty that in my pantry I have seven different orange bitters. Who would have imagined that even five years ago? Hm...think I'll go fix a cocktail.

[lperry]

I've used bitters in place of various extracts in baked goods and in fruit desserts with success.  It lends the fruit base with a little complexity.

[DonRocks]

"Is It Possible To Take Food Too Seriously?" is something of a complementary thread to this.

[lperry]

^ Do you think?  I would veer to the side of home cooking as a fun escape and/or hobby, and a cluttered pantry as a sign of passion rather than snobbery.  I enjoy cooking, and people give me food gifts because "it looked interesting," Mr. lperry buys all sorts of things because I "always find some way to use it," and I typically buy food items while traveling because I don't need more things, and food gets used up.  Then there's the fascination with interesting plants.  As a result, I've got loads of this and that in the pantry, and once or twice a year I'll make a genuine effort to clear everything down to the bare shelves (thank you, Mark Bittman, for the push), and that particular exercise always increases my creativity in the kitchen.  Cooking is fun, and having lots of items in the pantry is no different from a painter having racks of paints, or a ceramicist having numbers of slips and glazes, or a photographer having different lenses and filters.  Or even, perhaps, a wine lover having racks and racks of wine. 

[KeithA]

I seem to have a lot of jelly and fruit butters right now.  Hubby doesn't like them.  I eat them sometimes, but I really don't need as much as I have, my peanut butter sandwiches are few and far between.  I am trying to think of simple things I could make that use jelly. Specifically I have a cinnamon peach freezer jam, blueberry lavender jelly and habenero hot pepper jelly.  Thoughts?  

I concur with all of the suggestions above especially add good quality jams/jelly to plain yogurt for the best fruit yogurt ever.  I'd also say you can cook down the sweet jellies and jams a bit with some water and make a very nice fruit syrup topping for vanilla ice cream or other desserts. Or mix and simmer a bit with maple syrup for a fruited breakfast syrup.  Good jams/jellies/etc shouldn't go to waste.

[Ilaine]

First, I'd say keep them in the fridge so they don't grow green fur quite so fast.

Second, what about bringing them to the picnic?  Can we have a pantry cull?  We can't donate used food to the food bank but can we give it to each other?

After my mother moved into assisted living, I donated every intact box, jar, can and bag to the local food bank but there were so many items which were not intact but still good that I had to throw away.  Such a waste.