Christmas Spiced Cleaning Vinegar Recipe

I enjoy making my own natural cleaners using homegrown and store cupboard ingredients. They are thrifty, eco-friendly and contain no artificial fragrances. This festive fragranced cleaner is a great way to use up old spices and citrus peels, and cleans really well too.

Now is a great time to make this cleaner because it takes a week or so to infuse, and will be ready just in time for giving kitchens and bathrooms a seasonally scented clean before the festive holidays. Vinegar is anti-fungal, antiseptic and antibacterial and many of the ingredients (such as rosemary, thyme, citrus, cloves) also have powerful cleaning properties. Read about why vinegar is such a good cleaner here.

To be perfectly honest, cleaning is not my favourite job but a gorgeously scented, natural cleaner helps to make it more of a pleasure.

Christmas Spiced Cleaning Vinegar Recipe

Like all infused vinegars, the recipe can be tweaked to use what you have in your garden and store cupboard, and there’s no measuring.

You will need:

A large clean jar with a lid
Sieve lined with muslin (cheesecloth) or clean tea towel for straining
A bottle to store it in
Spray bottle

Ingredients

White malt vinegar – or any light vinegar such as cider or white wine vinegar

Your choice of:

citrus peels – eg: orange, lemon, satsuma, grapefruit etc
dried orange slices
fresh herbs – eg: rosemary, thyme
scented tree sprigs – eg: pine, eucalyptus, fir
star anise
cinnamon
ginger
cloves
cranberries – fresh or dried

Method

Place the ingredients in the jar until it is loosely half full.
Pour over the vinegar and stir.
Replace the lid and place on the counter.

Stir every day to ensure the ingredients infuse.

When the vinegar is ready, strain through the lined sieve and discard the ingredients (I put mine in the compost heap).

Pour into a bottle and label.

To Use:

I use the vinegar undiluted to clean toilet bowls, sinks etc in the kitchen and bathroom. It is great for cleaning limescale off taps, too.

To us as a multi-purpose spray, dilute 50/50 with water and pour into a spray bottle.

 

Please note:

Always check a small area before using vinegar based products on surfaces, floors and fabrics.
Avoid getting it into eyes, keep out of reach of children and pets, etc, just as you would any cleaning product.

For more festive recipes, why not try these infused liqueurs.