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Vinegar is defined as: ‘Sour liquid consisting of dilute and impure acetic acid, obtained by action of bacteria on beer (producing malt vinegar), wine, cider, industrial alcohol, etc.’ Collins Concise Encyclopaedia.
In ‘The Vinegar Book’, Emily Thacker says:
‘3,000 years before barley is grown to make beer;
4,000 years before all of Mesopotamia is engulfed in a disastrous flood;
5,000 years before wheeled vehicles appear in Sumeria or the Egyptians learn to plough -
- an enterprising householder prepares some fresh, naturally sweetened juice and seals it tightly in a stone jar. In a short time it ferments into the mildly intoxicating brew we call wine.
A very special day soon follows. The wine is left open to the air. A second fermentation takes places. Vinegar is created!’
What Thacker describes is something all wine-lovers know already: leave an unfinished bottle of wine open to the elements for more than a couple of hours and when you return to it, it will taste like vinegar. More so, the longer it is left.
Vinegar and wine go hand in hand, as the above definition shows. Vinegars made from wine or flavoured with wine are valued by cooks and chefs the world over. Many plain dishes of vegetables and fruits derive their unique flavour through the addition of a spoonful or two of wine vinegar.
The word ‘vinegar’ derives from the French ‘vinaigre’: ‘vin’ meaning wine and ‘aigre’ meaning sour. Literally, sour wine.
Other base ingredients have developed for creating vinegar, namely beer, cider and industrial alcohol. The common factor is, of course, alcohol, which largely evaporates during the vinegar-producing stage.
Vinegar has numerous uses: healing, restorative, cleaning and, of course, in food preparation. This report concerns itself with the latter, more common use of this highly versatile liquid.
You can even make your own vinegar from most liquids containing enough sugar. Wine is just one and produces perhaps the tastiest end result.
The process involves two distinct fermentations. The first, the alcoholic or vinous fermentation, converts natural sugars into alcohol. The second, called acid or acetic fermentation, changes the alcohol into acetic acid. Both stages must be fully complete for production of quality vinegar.
The first fermentation can be hastened with the addition of a little yeast to the wine and by keeping the wine at a constant temperature of about 80°c. To shorten the acetic stage, allow plenty of air around the mixture to which a little mother-of-vinegar can be added.
Do not allow Mother-of-vinegar to enter the liquid until all the sugar has been changed into alcohol.
Mother-of-vinegar is a term used to describe the sticky scum that forms on top of cider or other juices as the alcohol turns into vinegar. Mother-of-vinegar is formed from the beneficial bacteria used to create vinegar and can be used as the basis for new vinegars, hence the reference to ‘mother’.
IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT VINEGAR
• Any bottle of wine standing open to the air outside will turn into vinegar. In the summer the process takes about 2 weeks; in the winter twice as long.
• Ordinary wine converts best into vinegar by the introduction of a little Mother-of-vinegar.
• Make your own Mother-of-vinegar by mixing one cup of vinegar with 1 cup of fresh wine. Leave it to set in the open air for a couple or days in warm weather, up to a couple of weeks in winter. Skim off the surface, bottle and store at room temperature. Add a little to all new vinegar production.
• Malt, cider and distilled vinegar have a harsh taste and should not be used in cooking. Wine vinegars, especially white types, are more mellow.
• Add leftover wine to undistilled vinegar to produce a new supply of wine vinegar.
• Make your own wine from scratch by standing two pounds of raisins in a gallon of water and leaving it in a warm place. In about 2 months the mixture will convert into white wine vinegar. Simply strain the mixture and bottle it. Use as the basis for lots of vinegars using: herbs, flowers, spices.
COOKING WITH WINE VINEGAR
• If wine goes sour, don’t throw it way. Use it instead of some of the vinegar in certain marinades and in cooking things like red cabbage, eggs and most fruits and vegetables. Used to pickle eggs, it tastes wonderful.
• A little wine vinegar added to the water in which you cook beetroots will keep them from fading and gives a wonderful taste.
• Beat 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar into 4 or more egg whites and they will hold their shape - and taste extra good - when you’ve whipped them to stiffness.
• Food cooked using wine or wine vinegar does not add alcohol to the food; it just adds flavour. Most of the alcohol evaporates at well below the boiling point of water.
• If you intend to cook meats in wine vinegar, it’s usually best to brown them first in hot fat to prevent the meat becoming wine soaked.
• Wine vinegar should be added to a stew after the meat and vegetables have been browned in fat or oil.
• When you use red wine vinegar for a sauce, it’s best to add a pinch of sugar during cooking to correct the acidity.
• A little sherry wine vinegar added to uncooked rice before browning in a frying pan gives a wonderful flavour.
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Vinegar - Ten Things You May Not Know About Vinegar by Avril Harper |
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