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Hills and Underwood were specialists in making vinegar. Their method in the early days was very much like making beer. Norfolk malts were ground to meal and then put in mash 'tuns'. The meal was mixed with hot water and heated to boiling point. This 'wort' was then cooled and placed in fermenting vats. Yeast was added and alcohol was therefore produced. The fluid mass was exposed to the air and as a result converted to ascetic acid. A process of allowing the liquid to slowly trickle over birch twigs which enabled acid to be produced after 48 hours instead of 3 months. After all this, the vinegar had to be clarified. The vinegar produced was pale primrose in colour however caramel was added to make it look darker and more palatable. In addition to vinegar, the business produced British Cordials Liquors and 'Old Tom' gin. Vinegar was used to prime lamp wick. This treatment was recommended to stop bicycle lamp wicks from smoking. One recipe was Cress Vinegar: dry out and crush half an ounce of Cress seed, pour on it a quart of vinegar and allow to soak for 10 days (shake liquid each day). The vinegar will be strongly flavoured with Cress and said to be pleasant with salads and cold meats. Vinegar was even used as 'Toilet Vinegar' - place half a pound of fresh lavender in a quart of brown vinegar, soak for two weeks then strain through a muslin bag. This was then used in washing water as the water available in these times did not always smell very nice.