Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1887 — Why Vinegar Is Sharp. [ARTICLE]

Why Vinegar Is Sharp.

The question has been propounded: What mimes vinegar sharp? Now, if it had been asked: What does not make it the answer would have been, - the want of pure apple or grape juice. George Adams, in 1747, said that some people have imagined that the sharpness of vinegar is occasioned by the eels striking their pointed tails against the tongue and palate. But the Scientific American says it is very certain that the sourest vinegar ‘'has none of those eels, and that its pungency is entirely owing to the pointed figures of its salts, which float therein. This is very well, but we are almost persuaded that some'Of the sharpness in vinegar is due to the sharp practices with which its manufacture is often surrounded. There is the sharper who mixes the commodity with drugs and acids, such as preparations of lead, copper, and sulphuric acids. There is the sharper who orders this done. There is the sharper who sells the concoction to the merchant. There is the mercantile sharper who sells the stuff to the consumer. There is the grand combination of sharpers who lie throughout the whole transaction from the time it is made to the time it is used. Then there is the old, old sharper, the prince of Ties; with- his cloven-hoof and his serpentine-tail, who inspires the lesser sharpers. And yet some people do not know what makes vinegar sharp!—’Tis inflnr-nced in tn sharpn cHB/ gen tleTnen—Northicest Trade. “Beaftifvl moonlight when I camo in last night.” said Mohair, breaking the ominous silence at breakfast. “Y'es,” said Mrs. Mohair, from the other side of the table; “but scarcely light enough for you to open the front door with a button-hook, which you couldn’t tell from your latch-key."