Making white distilled (spirit/alcohol) vinegar at home

Reginald SmithMaking Vinegar, Uncategorized, White Distilled/Spirit Vinegar27 Comments

White distilled vinegar, the workhorse of home canners/picklers and DIY cleaners around the world. Not known for its culinary subtlety it is still the largest vinegar produced and sold by far, with the majority of sales actually being bulk shipments to other food manufacturers such as those making ketchup, mustard, pickles, sauces, etc. Most home vinegar makers don’t endeavor to … Read More

The Great Vinegar Regions of the World

Reginald SmithAll About Vinegar, Balsamic Vinegar, Chinese Vinegars, Regional Vinegars, Sherry Vinegar, Uncategorized, Vinegar History6 Comments

There are many great wine regions of the world from France to California to South Africa to Australia. Likewise, there are many great olive oil producing regions, many in the Mediterranean but also in California and other regions as well. What are the great regions for vinegar though? Vinegar is often mass produced but some regions retain a title as … Read More

Introducing gluten free malt vinegar

Reginald SmithMalt Vinegar, Uncategorized42 Comments

Gluten Free Malt Vinegar – a new product of Supreme Vinegar About me and my passion for vinegar I’m Reggie Smith, owner of Supreme Vinegar LLC, a specialty fruit and wine vinegar manufacturing company in Bensalem, PA just outside of Philadelphia. In the past, I have mainly concentrated on fruit vinegars and mothers of vinegar to help home vinegar hobbyists … Read More

From Alegar to Sarson’s: A History of Malt Vinegar

Reginald SmithMalt Vinegar, Uncategorized, Vinegar History2 Comments

Read the full book on the history of vinegar, Vinegar, The Eternal Condiment available on Amazon! My article on the history of malt vinegar appeared in the 113th issue of Petits Propos Culinaires published by Prospect Books. Download below. Please cite as: Smith, RD (2019). From Alegar to Sarson’s: A History of Malt Vinegar. Petits Propos Culinaires, 113, 95-119. Additional … Read More

Recipes to make your own malt vinegar

Reginald SmithMaking Vinegar, Malt Vinegar6 Comments

Malt Vinegar (using liquid or dry malt extract) Dry or liquid malt extract (type can be personal preference though barley based ale extracts approximate traditional recipes) Water Brewing yeast (ale or lager) Live mother of vinegar Mix quantity of extract with water to adjust the specific gravity for 6% alcohol by volume (roughly 1.05). For liquid yeast, pitch in directly. … Read More

Vinegar Aging and Value

Reginald SmithAll About Vinegar, Balsamic Vinegar, Chinese Vinegars, Making Vinegar, Sherry Vinegar, Vinegar IndustryLeave a Comment

Read the full book on the history of vinegar, Vinegar, The Eternal Condiment available on Amazon! Besides raw material, one of the big differentiators between premium and regular vinegars is the aging process. This can range from 2 months for Balsamic of Modena IGP to 6 months for basic sherry vinegar to 12 years for Gran Reserva Sherry or 25 … Read More

Will 2018 or 2019 see a sherry vinegar shortage?

Reginald SmithAll About Vinegar, Sherry VinegarLeave a Comment

Sherry vinegar (Vinagre de Jerez) has increasingly become well-known and a hot commodity. The trade industry association of sherry vinegar vinagreros (vinegar makers) in Andalusia, Asevijerez, has indicated a widespread concern in the industry due to a shortage of sherry wine used as raw material to make sherry vinegar. As is well-known, the traditional sherry vinegar process can take time … Read More

More information on making malt vinegar

Reginald SmithMaking Vinegar, Malt Vinegar, UncategorizedLeave a Comment

Many people read and commented on our post regarding beer and malt vinegar. In order to help aspiring malt vinegar makers, we are linking this article about malt vinegar manufacturing from Roderick N. Greenshields from the University of Aston in Birmingham. No one does malt vinegar better than the British and Greenshields was one of the best experts. Birmingham was … Read More

Vinegar Acidities – Levels and Usage

Reginald SmithAll About Vinegar, Recipes & Tips, Uncategorized, Vinegars87 Comments

We have talked about acidity a bit on this blog, from how to measure acidity and how it is different from pH to comparing the acidity of Coca-Cola and vinegar. Vinegar obviously comes in different acidities though. Which one do you  need? How do they help? Below is a quick and informative guide to vinegar acidities and their usages. Acidity  … Read More