Vinegar is an indispensable condiment in people's daily lives. It contains 3-6% sour components, with over 90% of its acid content being acetic acid. It also contains citric acid, lactic acid, amino acids, succinic acid, tartaric acid, B vitamins, aldehyde compounds, and salt. Vinegar not only seasons food but can also increase stomach acid, enhance digestion, improve appetite, and kill bacteria, making it a health food for the elderly.
Vinegar has a wide range of uses in daily life, and some people call it a "fortifier" for nutrition. Adding vinegar when cooking dishes can stabilize the chemical structure of water-soluble vitamins and vitamin C, making them less likely to be destroyed by cooking, thereby protecting the nutrients in the food. Vinegar can make dishes crisp, tender, and refreshing, while also promoting the dissolution and absorption of trace elements such as copper, zinc, and chromium in food. Vinegar can also dissolve plant fibers and animal bones. When cooking fish, stewing meat, or stewing pork ribs, adding some vinegar can dissolve the calcium in them, facilitating the body's absorption and utilization. Regular consumption of vinegar by the elderly can also help soften blood vessels, promote sleep, prevent colds, and provide a cooling effect to prevent heatstroke.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, vinegar is known as "Ku Jiu" (bitter wine) or "Mi Cu" (rice vinegar). Vinegar is sour, bitter, and warm in nature, and is said to have the effects of dispelling blood stasis, stopping bleeding, detoxifying, and killing insects. Li Shizhen said, "Vinegar is used to treat various sores, swellings, accumulations, abdominal masses, heart and abdominal pain, and blood-related diseases. It kills the toxins in fish, meat, vegetables, and various insects, all of which are based on its astringent properties, and it also has the effect of dispelling stasis and detoxifying." This proves that vinegar has the function of preventing and treating arteriosclerosis. Clinical practice has shown that vinegar eggs are effective in preventing and treating arteriosclerosis and other diseases in the elderly. The method is: place 180 ml of rice vinegar in a bottle and add one egg. Soak for 48 hours. After the eggshell softens, use chopsticks to puncture the eggshell, then mix the egg white, yolk, and vinegar together to make the vinegar egg mixture. Take 25 ml on an empty stomach every morning (dilute with 2-3 times the amount of water and an appropriate amount of honey and mix well), and finish it in 7 days.