Infused vinegars in pretty jars

I love citrus vinegar.  It's the best for making homemade mayonnaise and salad dressings (which you can read about here.)  But don't go looking for it at the grocer's -- make your own!


What do you do with citrus peels after you have eaten the fruit or squeezed out all the juice?  (I hope you didn't say throw them away.)  One of my favorites is to make citrus-infused vinegar.  Just pack whatever you have left -- peels, seeds, pulp -- into a clean glass jar, fill to the top with distilled white vinegar, seal it up and leave it alone for a week or two.  When the vinegar takes on a yellowish color, it's good to go.

Then simply use a funnel (and maybe a mesh strainer if you're fussy) to pour the infused vinegar into whatever container you want it to live in.  The final product is mild and bright with a nice lemony flavor.  You'll find yourself using it with everything!

And here's another little tip:  take the soggy, spent, vinegary peels and just grind them up in your garbage disposal to freshen and sanitize it.  Granny never wastes anything.

So, I love this vinegar so much that, as soon as I get a batch bottled up, I start a new batch right away.  That means I have a jar of citrus peels and vinegar sitting on my kitchen counter all the time.  And since that is the case, I decided why not make it look nice?

I didn't have to spend a lot on this project.  I purchased a glass candle holder at a thrift store for 99 cents.  I cleaned out an old spaghetti sauce jar for free.  And I got an inexpensive lamp finial from the hardware store.

Next I got some Loctite All Purpose GO2 glue because it was the only adhesive I could find that explicitly claims to be suitable for glass.  It was easy to glue jar to the candleholder, and it dried quickly and crystal clear with a nice, tight bond.

If you haven't noticed, I glued the jar to the base of the candle holder so that it is actually upside down.  Why?  Why not?  I tried it out both ways and liked this arrangement better.

I prepared the jar lid and the finial by spray painting them first with gray primer, then with Krylon looking glass paint, then with clear acrylic, allowing ample time to dry between coats.  With all that glass, I wanted something light and shiny, but I also needed it to be durable.

Finally I glued the finial to the top of the lid and ....

Voila!  (Also yum!)