Do you do hop water? Or other flavored sparkling water?
12 months ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (24)
- 12 months ago
- 12 months ago
Related Discussions
Scale back on watering mid yr to improve flavor?
Comments (19)Seysonn, If you attempt roughly the same experiment that I did, I think you'd be convinced that watering drastically affects the taste of tomatoes. Not just minor overwatering, but extreme overwatering. It's agreed that variety is the most important factor, because a tomatoes flavor can only be as good as what that variety can best produce. My experiment showed me that the one variable (amount of water) produced both the best tasting, and the worst tasting tomatoes in my garden that year. This tomato variety was measured against itself and ~100 other varieties. In all my years of gardening, the variety and the amount of watering are the biggest influences on flavor, from what I"ve seen. Soil and climate (sunshine, heat, cold, etc...) only have had minor affects. Gary...See MoreHow much do you water???
Comments (15)rjinga- To convert a sprinkler head to a drip system, go to Home Depot or equivalent and get a conversion kit. They're inexpensive, and you just switch out the existing head with the one in the kit, and then add the drip lines with the parts that come in the kit. You can then also use a screwdriver to shut off flow to other sprinkler heads in the area if you don't want them to water your garden. Lastly, you can alternatively get a dripline kit that simply attaches to a hose: that way you could have whatever watering schedule you wanted if your sprinkler timer wasn't doing what you wanted for your tomatoes....See MoreWowee . . . do you really use that 205-degree water?
Comments (31)Blood stains are removed easily via cold water to warm/hot (120F-140F)profile wash, or pre-treating the area with any good stain product and or hydrogen peroxide then washing in cool to warm water. Heat sets the protiens in blood, modern enzyme detergents/pre-treatments work quite well in removing such stains. It also helps to flush the stain while fresh with cold water. As for "boil washes", most all my vintage laundry books from about the 1940's on clearly state boiling laundry went out with modern automatic washing machines and certianly as laundry products have evoloved from soap. Boiling was done mainly as a way to loosen muck,grime and other soils from laundry without all the rubbing/scrubbing one had to do prior to automatic washing machines. Very hot water washes were also a way of combating common vermin found in laundry (lice, nits, fleas, etc), which happily are not as widespread today. Very hot water washes do offer a way of sanitising laundry, but at widely differnt temps. E coli requires only 160F at 20 minutes, but yeasts, and other types of bugs require much higher temps for longer contact times. It must also be remembered that there was much more of an emphasis on "boil washes" in eras past when there were few if any modern disenfectants and especially antibiotics. Cathing a germ until as recently could almost mean certian death, unless one was strong enough to fight off the infection, even then many still died. Therefore housewives did everything they could to keep their homes "germ free". However because of modern sanitation and health care we simply do not see the sorts of illnesses/widespread diseases housewives commonly were used to. Thyphoid fever, measles, cholera, minor strep or staph infections that rapidly turned into major systemic infections which caused everything from child birth fever to pneumonia can are are controlled. Also modern hospitals have replaced sick rooms in the home. This means less disease in homes to infect other members of the same household. The final reason for very hot water washes was that perborate/percarbonate bleaches require temps of 120F/130F and above to become really effective. The lower the water temp, the longer contact time must be for equal results. Modern chemistry as gotten around this problem by creating "activated" oxygen bleaches found in most better quality detergents/laundry products. Bleach activator chemicals when combined with oxygen bleaches in wash water,provide equal or better bleaching/stain removal action at wash temps of 100F, and even 80F. This is why repeated washing of darks even in cold or cool water using products such as Perisl or Tide will eventually "bleach" those colours. Activated bleaches also provide very effective disenfection of laundry at wash temps of 100F to 120F, with a contact time of at least 20 minutes. In fact the chemical produced by combining oxygen bleach and bleaching activators "Peracetic acid" is a very, very effective broad spectrum biocide and stain remover. Peracetic acid is such an effective biocide that brewers and other use it to clean stainless steel vats because unlike chlorine bleach it does not cause damage. Commercial and hospital laundries around the world have long switched to activated oxygen bleaches because they can obtain the same level of stain removal/disenfection at wash temps of 120F or lower, which results in a savings on energy costs. It also results in longer textile life as lower wash water temps are less harsh on textile fibers. Again, unlike chlorine bleaches (never very popular outside of the United States for laundry use), activated oxygen bleaches do not cause textile damage. For all the above reasons, the average wash temp in Europe/UK is widely documented to be 40C. The use of activated oxygen bleaches, and better detergent formulas has really removed the requirment for long boil washes. Of course if one uses lower quality detergents and mainly cool/cold water washes, that is a different matter all together. Americans have really only recently "rediscovered" front loading washing machines, and built in water heaters. Just because one can launder something at 160F to 200F, does not mean one ought to; first of all not many items produced today can withstand repeated super or even very hot water washes. Second of all many American detergents are not designed for long boiling washes. Designed with enzymes and activated bleaches, they work quite well at wash temps of 140F and below, (140F-120F the common setting of most hot water heaters in American homes, with 120F usually the factory setting). Indeed long wash times with detergents not desigened for the purpose can lead to poor results, as the componets of said detergent begin to loose their soil suspension ability, allowing removed soils to redeposit back onto laundry. Conversely many European detergents designed for long boil washes have been redesigned to work in lower wash temps and or shorter cycles. Have washed everything from badly soiled table linens to muddy gardening clothes setting my Miele to ho higher than 120F and using plain old Tide or Wisk dual action tablets, and the results have always been great. Have also "restored" vintage linens that had foxing stains (that yellowing one sees from linens lying about stored), using the same low wash temps, but quality products. My Miele goes up to 200F, and cannot remember the last time (aside from occassional "maitaining washes), ever laundering anything at that temp. Especially as I still do quite a bit of ironing, and cottons/linens laundered at very high temps emerge with lots of wrinkles. Simply do not fancy making more work for myself. C.dS...See MoreReally, do you use your hot water dispenser?
Comments (26)I use my instant hot every day. We got our first one about 15 years ago when I had granite installed and it was suggested (had only heard a little about it before) and it finally stopped working about 6 to 8 months ago so we got another one. Then, we just did a full gut kitchen remodel and we were without it for about 7 weeks...really missed it! When we had the new kitchen installed, we did get the hot/cold combo unit (so my folks will be getting the one that was only 6 to 8 months old). We have R/O water and it runs through the unit for both the instant hot and the cool water. The tap has a push down tab on the left with a red tip for hot and one with a blue tip on the right for cool. We got the Insinkerator HC-WAVESN-SS. It looks fine and I really like not having "three" faucets at the sink like we did before (regular faucet, R/O faucet and instant hot faucet). Many of the dispensers do NOT come with a tank, you have to buy that separately. We were happy to see that ours is one of the few that DOES include a stainless steel tank and it says it can dispense 60 cups of instant hot water per hour. I found it at Lowe's online only (at least where we live in Arizona) and thought the fast shipping was a bit much. The Great Indoors price was upwards of $200 higher but they price match plus give you 10% of the difference off plus give you free shipping, so that's what we did. Like others, I use it for pasta, tea, jello (boil it first, of course but it boils so much faster). One thing I do daily is fill a small 1 cup size glass prep bowl about half full and put in my wedding ring and tennis bracelet. Just putting them in the hot water for a few minutes each day keeps them sparkling clean and I don't have to be quite so careful about washing my hands with soap or not letting my ring touch hand lotion when I put it on after applying lotion....See More- 12 months ago
- 12 months ago
- 12 months ago
- 12 months ago
- 12 months ago
- 12 months agolast modified: 11 months ago
- 12 months ago
- 12 months agolast modified: 12 months ago
- 12 months ago
- 12 months ago
- 12 months ago
- 11 months ago
- 11 months ago
- 11 months ago
- 11 months ago
- 11 months agolast modified: 11 months ago
- 11 months ago
- 11 months agolast modified: 11 months ago
- 11 months ago
Related Stories

BATHROOM DESIGNWater Damage Spawns a Space-Saving Bathroom Remodel
A game of inches saved this small New York City bathroom from becoming too cramped and limited
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDES6 Lovely Water-Wise Perennials for High Altitudes
Even if your climate is cold and dry, you can still celebrate spring with these hardy and colorful perennials
Full Story
ARCHITECTUREWant to Live by the Water? What You Need to Know
Waterside homes can have amazing charm, but you'll have to weather design restrictions, codes and surveys
Full Story
ECLECTIC HOMESHouzz Tour: Water and Openness Inspire a San Francisco Remodel
Better functionality and ocean-loving touches make for a casual, comfortable home that suits a family of 5
Full Story
LANDSCAPE DESIGNHow to Introduce a Water Feature to Your Garden
With its sound, movement and ever-changing reflections, water brings vitality to an outdoor space
Full Story
GARDENING AND LANDSCAPINGGardens Tap Into Rill Water Features
Rooted in ancient design, this water feature is popular again as a way to help contemporary landscapes flow
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESExtreme Herb Gardening for Extreme Flavor
Fresh herbs grown at home are the secret to sumptuous meals for you and your guests
Full Story
EDIBLE GARDENSGrow Plum Hybrids for Your Favorite Fruit Flavors
Plums are cozying up with apricots, peaches and even cherries — here’s how to grow these hybrids for the best aspects of each
Full Story
EDIBLE GARDENSGreat Design Plant: Roselle Tantalizes With Beauty and Flavor
Call it a fruit or a flower or a sweet vegetable. This hibiscus is so lovely, all that matters is calling it forth in your garden
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESDwarf Citrus Trees Offer Miniature Size With Maximum Flavor
Find out how to grow the fruit you love in a smaller space
Full Story
John Liu