Read the full book on the history of vinegar, Vinegar, The Eternal Condiment available on Amazon! Vinegar has been made for millenia—surely as long as wine and beer. Vinegar is a dilute solution of acetic acid made by special bacteria that transform the alcohol into this new compound using oxygen. The first records are from ancient Babylon but later vinegar … Read More
The Supreme Court – and Apple Cider Vinegar!
With the Supreme Court in the news, it may be a good moment to go back in time to a landmark Supreme Court case focusing on none other than vinegar! In the early 20th century during the Progressive Era, many landmark reforms for food and drug quality were passed. Vinegar became drawn up in many of the reforms of the … Read More
Giants of Vinegar History: Dessaux Fils of Orléans
Read the full book on the history of vinegar, Vinegar, The Eternal Condiment available on Amazon! The history of vinegar in France, Orléans in particular, has played a large role in the history of vinegar. The artisan vinegar makers of Orléans waxed large in the ancién regime but later began to fade as both free market liberalization and industrialization took … Read More
Jacques François Demachy and the ‘piss vinegar’ legend
Likely the first technically inclined manual on vinegar production was Art du Vinaigrier or “Art of the Vinegar Maker”, written in French by the French chemist Jacques François Demachy in the year 1780. At the twilight of the ancien régime, Demachy wrote a comprehensive treatise on vinegar incorporating both common practice from various countries, including France, as well as the … Read More
China’s Vinegar Culture: A History of Vinegar in Ancient China
Read the full book on the history of vinegar, Vinegar, The Eternal Condiment available on Amazon! Like most things in China, vinegar has a long recorded history. The character for vinegar, 醋 or cù (pronounced ‘sooh’), is ubiquitous connoting both the condiment as well as a metaphor for a bitter life condition. Chinese civilization first arose primarily along the Yellow … Read More
A History of Balsamic Vinegar
Read the full book on the history of vinegar, Vinegar, The Eternal Condiment available on Amazon! Balsamic vinegar’s origins are obscure. Some assert they go back to the Roman Empire with fermentation of the grape must sapa. Others believe that, like butter, it may have existed but its true development came during the Middle Ages. The term ‘balsamic’ itself comes … Read More
Ten Fascinating and Shocking Stories from the History of Vinegar
Vinegar is like the red-headed (or maybe sour tasting) stepchild compared to wine and beer, its more illustrious cousins. Vinegar, however, has its own interesting history with its share of fascinating anecdotes and stories. While many stories are descriptive touching on the history of science, business, and even alchemy, others are interesting in their own right and reveal some of … Read More
The History of Vinegar: Vinegar making in Orléans, France
Vinaigrerie (vinegar factory) in 19th century Orléans Read the full book on the history of vinegar, Vinegar, The Eternal Condiment available on Amazon! For those familiar with vinegar making, the oldest standard method of making vinegar is called the Orléans method or “slow process”. This is the romantic vision of vinegar making where wine or cider is poured into wooden … Read More