Vinegar: An Unlikely Gift from the Gods
Vinegar is the end product of fermentation: Yeasts transform the sugars in a juice (grape or apple, for example) into alcohol, which is subsequently transformed into acetic acid by other bacteria. Hence, one could say that vinegar is juice (or more likely wine) gone bad. But one would be making a terrible mistake; vinegar has been used as a preservative, flavoring, and drug since the dawn of time, and even though there are newer chemicals that can perform some of the functions traditionally assigned it, the effects are often not quite the same.
Making Vinegar From Apple Cider
It's easy to make vinegar at home, and there are advantages to doing so; commercial vinegars are of necessity made to appeal to as wide a clientele as possible, and this will lead their producers to make as standardized a product as they can. At home, on the other hand, you can experiment with different strains or kinds of fruit, and also combine different kinds of fruit to obtain subtleties that the commercial products simply lack. Since apple vinegar is the most common non-wine vinegar, we'll use it as an example:
To make apple vinegar you will need apple juice; said juice can be either unpasteurized freshly pressed cider, or, if you want, you can start from scratch. It takes more effort, but you can discard bruised sections of the apples that might impart off flavors, and also mix varieties of apples (or combine them with other fruit). If you are making a small batch you'll be able to make do with a blender to chop the apples quickly, and then collect the pulp in a finely woven muslin bag; twist the bag over a bowl to compress the pulp and collect the juice.
If you are instead bitten by the bug and decide to take a more serious approach (home-made vinegar is also an excellent gift, especially if it is flavored), you'll want an inexpensive apple shredder and a small cider press, both of which can be purchased in farm supply places, or from a home brewing shop that also supplies equipment for making cider. If you do it seriously, figure that 35 pounds of apples (about 15k) will yield about 4 gallons (10-11 liters) of cider.
Regardless of the volume of vinegar you're making, the cider will have to go into a container, which should be fitted with a spigot at its base, and should be made of either wood, clear glass, or good quality (18/10 grade) stainless steel, because vinegar's acidity can attack many of the glazes used in ceramics, and have similar effects upon plastics and lesser quality steels. Do not, for any reason, use aluminum. If you use a wooden container, keep it filled with water between batches.
Once you have put the cider in the container cover it loosely to keep the dust out and put it in a dark place at a constant temperature. The cider will begin to ferment and vinegar to form within a couple of days. Left to its own the process can be lengthy; to hasten it add a cup of your previous batch (this is what is known as a starter), and in any case aerate the juice by stirring it about with a spoon, or, better yet, filling a tankard with vinegar and pouring it back into the container from a height sufficient to aerate the mixture well. Once the vinegar is ready -- figure a couple of months if you are stirring it, and up to a year if you're leaving it alone -- check your calendar, and bottle your vinegar during the waning moon; doing so will keep it clearer, as will the use of the spigot that drains gently from the bottom of the container. Stopper your vinegar and it's ready. By comparison with commercial vinegars it will be more delicate, and have greater depth and complexity. Since it's not pasteurized it will also continue to develop, and there are people who say their vinegars begin to hit their stride after 3-4 years of bottle age.
Making Wine Vinegar | Vinegar: Uses, Aromatic Vinegars & Sauces
A presto,
Kyle
Phillips
Got more sites / recipes to suggest? Let me know.
The Recipe Index
Previous Features
Browse photos of Italy or send a
card!
