How was vinegar used?
Vinegar has been used as a condiment, a preservative, a medicine, an antibiotic, a detergent and many other uses throughout the ages. The Assyrians used vinegar to cure earaches and as part of a mouth wash. Egyptians were served vegetables covered in oil and vinegar. Roman soldiers and gladiators drank a diluted vinegar beverage called posca. Cleopatra is said to have dissolved a great pearl in a plate of vinegar and drank it because of a bet with Marc Antony. According to Pliny, Roman miners used fire and vinegar to break up rock. Legend says that only sand, urine, or vinegar extinguished Greek fire. Vinegar is mentioned in the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments. Jewish food laws define when vinegar is kosher or not. Sixteenth century Sicilian monks in the city of Palermo used vinegar as part of a mummification process for the dead displayed in the Capuchin Catacombs. Hippocrates recommended vinegar as a healing agent to be used externally and internally. He detailed a vinegar p
