During the festive season, a variety of cooking aromas fill the air but they don’t have to linger unpleasantly. While the scent of Christmas dinner might be delightful and the aroma of chocolate pudding tempting, as the day wears on the mix of odours can become less appealing.
“Over Christmas, those cooking smells are going to be worse,” cleaning expert Lynsey Crombie cautioned on her TikTok channel. She then revealed her trick: warming white vinegar on the stove, taken from a spray bottle, and letting it simmer.
“This will break down those odours and will not leave a vinegar smell,” she says. “I just boil up some white vinegar on the hob, five minutes, then let it simmer.”
Since Lynsey first shared the tip in 2021 the comments section has been bustling with reactions, reports the Express.
But Lynsey says: “Everyone keeps saying just open a door… cooking with oil is what [white vinegar] is mostly for. Normal cooking smells? Yeah, just open the door.”
However, some who tried the hack with malt vinegar ended up with a house smelling like a “fish and chip shop”.
For clarity, the white vinegar referred to by Lynsey is the cleaning spray available in supermarket cleaning aisles, including at Asda and Sainsbury’s.
One commentator raised concerns, asking: “Is this safe for toddlers to breathe in? I have a 16-month-old…” to which Lynsey quickly reassured with a response: “Yes it is [safe].”
Another person pointed out the extraction unit above the hob, simply advising: “Turn it on! “.