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Evaporated vinegar

 
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I was reading a list of provisions required during the Klondike gold rush. One item is 1/2 pound of evaporated vinegar.  The measurement in pounds suggest it is a solid and not a liquid.  I did a brief search of the net and found nothing helpful.  

I just located vinegar powder on Amazon.  But, its use appears to be as a seasoning.  I suspect this may not be the same. Does anyone have any ideas as to what evaporated vinegar is used for?
 
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I do not have an answer for you, but just some thoughts that could be related?

The era of the gold rush was an era with miners hounded by scurvy. Could evaporated vinegar refer to a form of perceived preventative maybe? With hindsight we know that scurvy is a vitamin c deficiency but at the time I have read about all sorts of different remedies that were tried.
 
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Maybe, but citric acid was also on the list.  
 
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Also of interest is the inclusion of mustard and ginger in addition to salt and pepper.  Of course salt is certainly expected. . Pepper is pretty normal.  But the mustard and ginger are a little more of a head scratcher …unless medicinal?    Worth noting , curry was not mentioned …..even though curry has been used to mask the taste of rancid food.
 
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I suspect that evaporated vinegar was a powder.  Bullion cubes were used back then as a shelf stable commodity.

Gold miner had to pack a years worth of food over mountains for 100os of miles.

I suspect water was added to make it a vinegar to ferment foods that did not need refrigeration.

Here is a list that has evaporated onions, peaches. apples, etc  I am assuming these were dried as we use the term today.

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/klse/hrs/hrs3a.htm
 
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Something in my memory suggests it was made like sea salt.  

Can't quite find where I saw it, but probably 1850s household manual like Mrs beeton or one of The Hudson Bay guides for trappers, traders, and outpost supplies.  Probably the one for upper canada trading posts but I don't know the specific title.

This may be flawed, but the memory suggests the method with adding salt to distilled vinegar and then putting it on the warming plate of the woodstove until it thickens. That takes a few days.  Once it thickens, it takes more attention to dry it all the way, but I don't remember how that went.
 
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My first guess was to use it as regular vinegar once mixed with water.  Of course, I got to wondering if maybe there was another use.  This seemed like the perfect place to ask.
 
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Edited to show answer better: for TESTING GOLD

My husband likes odd questions so I asked if he knew. He did not actually know, but his guess was correct! You can use vinegar to test if gold is real! I can't provide any links because I'm eating, lol, gotta go... but this is amazing timing because about 2 hours ago I asked him if a particular bracelet I dug up was real gold. He didn't know, lol, and didn't know how to tell. Then this popped up in front of me and HE guessed it, lol! Kinda freaky! Later or tomorrow I'll test my bracelet and post a pic, if there's anything visual to see. Unless someone beats me to it.  
 
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Acetic acid, the stuff in vinegar, has a vapor pressure of about 15.7 mmHg at 25°C—lower than water’s 23.8 mmHg—so it evaporates, just more slowly than water. In vinegar (4-8% acetic acid in water), the water evaporates first and faster because it’s the dominant component and more volatile in that mix. If you leave vinegar out long enough, you’ll lose both water AND acid to the air, though it’s mostly water going early on.

The only logical reason to do this is to concentrate the vinegar by removing the water (less weight during travel — very logical). If you remove the acid, you would probably end up with useless goo… and not much of it.
 
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I think I have your answer. Once they arrived in Nome Alaska the had to travel by horse. They had to have 100 pounds of food for each person and animal. Water is heavy so by taking powdered vinegar they could take more supplies with them
 
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If the vinegar was living, like Bragg, maybe if dried carefully the lacto bacilli will reactivate, as with dried yeast. The miners ate a lot of sourdough, so just a guess at another use.  My great-grandpa went to Alaska during the gold rush. I wish I could ask him!
 
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In the 17th Century Prussian Army  something like a teaspoon of vinegar was added to each canteen of water to make it more thirst quenching. I've tried it; it works. In the Yukon, I suspect you wouldn't want to use too much of your body heat to bring the water temperature to body temperature. Also, the antiseptic property of vinegar would be of some benefit when using surface water.
 
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You need an acid with baking soda to make biscuits rise.
 
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In the chemistry lab, when we removed the water from vinegar, we called it glacial acetic acid, a caustic liquid. You can buy it today on Amazon. The fumes irritate the throat and eyes like crazy. But it would allow you to carry the makings of 20 gallons of 5% vinegar for the same weight as one gallon of "evaporated vinegar".
 
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The vital ingredient of vinegar is acetic acid. The dry version is tricky - melting point 16 to 17 °C; 61 to 62 °F.
Thinking of salt'n'vinegar flavoured crisps (chips), there's salt and vinegar flavouring. Half salt, half vinegar, from the bottle. Make it yourself, or buy.
 
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Someone mentioned vinegar being added to the canteens of the Prussian army.  A fermented vinegar type drink was the official hydration of the Roman army.  Vinegar keeps your mouth from getting dry.   Which means that the Roman soldiers offering "vinegar" to Jesus when he was on the cross might have been meant as an act of kindness...  Who knows.
 
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