NIXA, Mo. (AP) -- There must be something about that Ozarks water. Peter Klock says it's great for making vinegar.
Klock is operations manager of the Burns Philip Food Ingredients Plant, which produces millions of gallons of white distilled vinegar each year for Fleischmann's, the nation's largest supplier of vinegar for staples such as mustard, salad dressing, barbecue sauce and salsa.Vinegar is made by pumping water mixed with ethyl alcohol and yeast-like bacteria into wooden tanks. The mixture is then covered with beechwood shavings, providing a place for the bacteria to thrive. Water in this Springfield suburb comes from a 1,700-foot well that taps into an aquifer.
Although vinegar is most often associated with foods, Klock says it has many other uses. "If everyone would clean out their coffee makers with vinegar once a month, demand would go through the roof," he said.
Vinegar has also been used to remove stains from cotton fabrics, and a little bit in the clothes washer acts as a fabric softener.