Orange Infused Vinegar
Hi there, dear friends 
I was reading up on vinegars for cooking when I stumbled across this Orange Infused Vinegar which is used primarily for cleaning.
Then an idea came to me ===> why don’t I mix some of the Orange Infused Vinegar to my Homemade Enzyme Cleaner for a better fragrance ? 
Well, those of you that have been following my post on making your own enzymes for cleaning will know that sometimes, the enzymes don’t smell very good. 
Recipe for Homemade Cleaning Enzyme Cleaner
Anyway, I made my first batch of Orange Infused Vinegar last month – you can find many recipes for that over the Internet. It’s really easy – — I just sliced some orange peels thinly and put them into a bottle of white vinegar.
Let the orange peels sit in the vinegar over 2 weeks, giving the bottle a good shake every now and then. Wow, the smell of Orange Infused Vinegar was really aromatic and refreshing – almost like the smell of orange zest or like when you peel an orange! What a wonderful tangy, citrus scent … just perfect to add on as a great fragrance to mask the homemade enzyme smells. Good and strong enough to use as an air freshener, too!
Some of my blog visitors had suggested before on putting a few drops of essential oils to cleaning enzymes, but I’m not sure about other countries but good essential oils in Malaysia do cost a lot. So, this Orange Infused Vinegar can help to cut costs as a bottle of vinegar doesn’t cost a lot at all.
To use the Orange Infused Vinegar, you can use it for cleaning as if you would use the e the cleaning enzymes, or you can add a few spoons or more to your pail of diluted enzymes for cleaning purposes.
Other uses of Orange Infused Vinegar – dilute it with some water in a spray bottle and it will freshen up any stale spaces or rooms , especially store rooms. Oh, the orange scent is really wonderful!
One word of caution though – if you have cats, try not to use too much of the Orange Infused Vinegar as cats don’t like the orange smell. But then, hey, for those of you that want a technique to deter cats from going into some of the places you want – just spray a strong mix of Orange Infused Vinegar and Water and see how that works!
Do have fun trying out your Orange Infused Vinegar !
With best wishes,
choesf
Natalie said,
July 12, 2012 @ 3:24 PM
Great idea! Definitely going to try this.
happyhomemaker88 said,
July 12, 2012 @ 6:29 PM
Hi there, dear Natalie
Let me know if you do try this out to see how it will work. I was thinking that the Orange Infused Vinegar would be really good for cleaning bathrooms, leaving the space there with a citrus-sy scent!
With best wishes,
choesf
Cleaning Made Easier With Vinegar & Baking Soda « Welcome to Happyhomemaker88's Virtual Home said,
July 18, 2012 @ 8:57 PM
[...] Orange Infused Vinegar – really fragrant and refreshing in scent [...]
Jules Thomas said,
July 20, 2012 @ 5:15 PM
That sounds great i must try it when cleaning our homes
Thanks for the tip
Jules
happyhomemaker88 said,
July 20, 2012 @ 5:59 PM
You are most welcome, dear Jules!
With best wishes,
choesf
Sheryne Ting said,
August 23, 2012 @ 2:49 PM
hi…what about any enzyme to deter rats/mouse ?
happyhomemaker88 said,
August 23, 2012 @ 7:04 PM
Hi there, dear Sheryne
I’m sorry, I don’t have any enzyme or homemade remedies to deter rats and mice.
I have tried many techniques and in the end, I decided to rear 2 cats!
With best wishes,
choesf
Easy Way To Get Rid Of Odours From Tupperwares, Plastic Containers « Welcome to Happyhomemaker88's Virtual Home said,
August 28, 2012 @ 12:07 PM
[...] Try using “Homemade Orange Infused Vinegar“ [...]
madeinzoetermeer said,
August 28, 2012 @ 8:07 PM
I do have a question — I live in europe and I tried your orange-inflused-vinegar. I am using it for cleaning with baking soda etc. My question is — how do I know if my ‘cleaning enzyme’ have enzyme? The temperatures in Malaysia is much higher than in Europe, even when it is summer
— does that make any differences?
Cindy
happyhomemaker88 said,
August 28, 2012 @ 8:26 PM
Hi there, dear Cindy
You have a valid question there – do enzymes take a longer time to ferment if your weather is much cooler than our tropical weather.
Personally, I think a cooler weather will affect the length of the fermentation. Perhaps, you may want to leave an extra one month before harvesting.
A few ways to know that your cleaning enzymes are ready for use/harvesting are :-
1) the fruits or peels all sank to the bottom of the bottle
2) the colour of the enzyme has turned a rich, almost clear gold or light tea colour.
Hope this helps…
With best wishes,
choesf
happyhomemaker88 said,
November 6, 2012 @ 10:36 AM
Hi there, dear friends
Recently during the rainy season, there is a group of really tiny ants coming into my house and going after the food crumbs. My usual homemade enzyme cleaner didn’t seem to work to repel them
.
But I found out that this orange infused vinegar works really well!
I put a mixture of 3 parts orange vinegar to 1 part water into a spray bottle and I sprayed those points of entry for those ants, as well as around the areas of my kitchen cabinets. Voila! No more ants, much to my relief!
With best wishes,
choesf
Tonya said,
December 31, 2012 @ 1:00 AM
Hi! Could you use rice vinegar? It’s what I have on hand. Thanks!
happyhomemaker88 said,
December 31, 2012 @ 3:58 PM
Hi there, dear Tonya
Yes, you can use rice vinegar as well. If your orange skins are clean, you can even use the orange rice vinegar as a salad dressing.
Happy New Year 2013!
With best wishes,
choesf