So you’ve made your first batch of homemade vinegar successfully. It smells good, tastes good, and whether you are using it now or aging it for extra flavor, you have a right to be proud of yourself. Now after the first and subsequent batches, the layers of mother of vinegar may begin to pile up in the bottom of your … Read More
High temperatures threaten balsamic vinegars in Italy
A recent story in the vinegar world of Italy is the effect of extended record high temperatures on traditional balsamic vinegar makers in Modena and Reggio Emilia. In particular, the ‘il caldo africano’, a heavy, hot wind that blows into Italy from North Africa, has set record high temperatures for weeks of July and August. This is not as much … Read More
Temperature and Speed for Bacterial Fermentation
Much of the food we love to ferment is fermented by bacteria. Obviously vinegar, which my company is dedicated to, is a prime example with several families of acetic acid bacteria contributing depending on the method of vinegar fermentation, acidity, and starter alcohol. For a variety of fermented foods, however, lactic acid fermentation by various lactic acid bacteria is primary. … Read More
Mother of Vinegar: Healthy and Probiotic? A Difficult Question Explored
As a vinegar manufacturer, it is my job to be ‘hip’ on the trends and demand in the market for vinegar, not just in the USA but globally. One of the biggest trends to shake up the vinegar industry in the last 10-15 years is the popularity of raw and unfiltered vinegar, usually with copious amounts of mother of vinegar … Read More
What does it mean to measure vinegar with ‘grains’?
Read the full book on the history of vinegar, Vinegar, The Eternal Condiment available on Amazon! As vinegar’s industrialization spread globally in the early 20th century industry terminology became standardized. In particular, it was found that the sale of vinegar was confusing without a standard nomenclature for the strength of the vinegar. Percent acidity is the commonly known term for … 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
A short history of vinegar in pre-modern Korea
Read the full book on the history of vinegar, Vinegar, The Eternal Condiment available on Amazon! Korea has an old vinegar culture dating back over a thousand years. While Korean vinegar history has been less thoroughly documented, especially in English, there are many references to recipes and processes for manufacturing of vinegar as well as culinary and medicinal uses. The … Read More
Acetic Acid Bacteria – Function and Classification
While some people know vinegar is a product of fermentation, even fewer know that bacteria, not yeast, is the essential agent. Acetic acid bacteria—the general term for vinegar fermenting bacteria—are present throughout our environment especially in fruits. They long ago evolved to survive not only by metabolizing simple sugars (i.e. glucose) but the alcohol ethanol. Acetic acid is a waste … Read More
MOOO! What is whey vinegar?
When you think of vinegar, apple cider, wine, balsamic, or spirit/alcohol/white distilled are likely the first to come to mind. However, with vinegar there are always so many possibilities since anything with sugar can ferment to alcohol and anything with alcohol can ferment to vinegar. It would shock many people to know vinegar can come from milk, but milk has … 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