 VinegarThe origin of vinegar, the discovery that a cask of wine gone past its time had turned to a wonderful new product, vinegar!
Through the centuries vinegar has been produced from many materials, including molasses, dates, fruits, berries, melons, coconut, honey, beer, maple syrup, potatoes, beets, malt, grains and whey. But the principle behind vinegar remains unchanged - fermentation of natural sugars to alcohol and then secondary fermentation to vinegar.
You could say wine is to grapes what vinegar is to wine.
The vinegar produced and used today is much like the vinegar produced in years past, but with newly discovered flavours and uses. The mainstays of the category - white distilled, cider, wine and malt vinegar have now been joined by balsamic, rice, rice wine, raspberry, pineapple, chardonnay, flavoured and seasoned vinegar and more
Each kind of vinegar is a unique experience. It would be presumptuous to say that one kind of vinegar only goes with one kind of food. It really depends on your taste. Most people have a tongue, nose, and brain and that is all the equipment you need to be able to decide what vinegar you like and what vinegar you do not like. But having said that we can offer some suggestions to get you started. We hope that these suggestions will be liberating rather than limiting.
Red wine vinegar, when they are robust make good salad dressings and marinades for red meats because the taste can stand on its own without the addition of other strong flavourings.
White wine vinegar, white rice vinegar, and corn vinegar work well with refrigerated pickles or salads. They also work well with fish and poultry. Try these when you are making vinegar cookies or vinegar cake.
Malt vinegar, cane vinegar and brown rice vinegar are great for dipping fried foods like "Fish-n-Chips" or bite sized pieces of chicken. It's hard to imagine Fish-n-Chips without Salt-n-Vinegar!
Flavoured vinegar gives an interesting twist to vinaigrettes. Just experiment with infused vinegar to see if they compliment the spices in your recipe |
