Vinegar

Wine, cider, beer, rice wine or spirit fermented a second time by bacteria into acetic acid — the sourness that pickles, dresses, deglazes, cuts fat and preserves, in a family that runs from the sharp white spirit vinegar of the pickle jar to the sweet, aged balsamic of Modena.

Where it comes from

Vinegar happens by itself wherever alcohol is left open to the air, and every drinking culture made and used it: the Babylonians, the Romans (who watered it into posca for their soldiers), the Chinese (who have made black rice vinegar for three thousand years). The word is French for sour wine, and wine vinegar remains the vinegar of France, Italy and Spain; cider vinegar is Normandy’s, England’s and America’s; malt vinegar from beer is Britain’s fish-and-chip vinegar; rice vinegar is East Asia’s; and cane, coconut and palm vinegars sour the cooking of the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

Balsamic vinegar is its own thing. Traditional balsamic (aceto balsamico tradizionale) of Modena and Reggio Emilia is cooked grape must aged in a succession of wooden barrels for twelve or twenty-five years or more, until it is thick, dark, sweet and complex, and is used by the drop; the ‘balsamic vinegar of Modena’ in supermarkets is wine vinegar with grape must and caramel, aged briefly, and is a different, everyday product. Sherry vinegar from Jerez, aged in the solera system, is the great savoury vinegar of Spain.

Varieties

• Red and white wine vinegar — The Mediterranean kitchen’s vinegars; red for vinaigrettes and braises, white for fish, mayonnaise and light pickles. Quality varies hugely.
• Cider vinegar — Fruity, mild, golden; for pickles, chutneys, salad dressings and pork dishes.
• Sherry vinegar (vinagre de Jerez) — Nutty, complex, aged; the Spanish vinegar for gazpacho, dressings and deglazing.
• Balsamic (tradizionale and di Modena) — Sweet, dark, thick; tradizionale for finishing by the drop, di Modena for dressings and glazes.
• Rice vinegar (Japanese, Chinese black, seasoned) — Mild Japanese for sushi rice and dressings; dark, malty Chinese Chinkiang for dumplings and braises; seasoned rice vinegar has sugar and salt added.
• Malt, distilled and cane vinegar — Malt for chips and pickled onions; distilled white for pickling and cleaning; Filipino cane and coconut vinegars for adobo and sinigang.

In the kitchen

In a vinaigrette, one part vinegar to three of oil is the classic, adjusted to the vinegar’s sharpness and the salad’s bitterness; salt dissolved in the vinegar first seasons evenly. A splash of vinegar deglazes a pan and lifts a sauce; a teaspoon at the end brightens a stew, a soup or a pot of beans that tastes flat. Acid balances fat and sugar — the reason vinegar sits beside oil, and sugar beside vinegar in a sweet-and-sour.

For pickles, use a vinegar of at least 5% acidity, brought to a boil with salt, sugar and spices and poured over the vegetables. Rice vinegar seasons sushi rice with sugar and salt; Chinkiang vinegar is the dip for dumplings with soy and ginger; sherry vinegar finishes a gazpacho; balsamic di Modena reduces to a glaze for strawberries or a steak; tradizionale is dripped over Parmesan or vanilla ice cream, and never cooked.

Choosing and keeping

Vinegar keeps almost indefinitely in a cupboard; a haze or a jelly-like ‘mother’ in an unpasteurised vinegar is harmless and can be used to start more. Traditional balsamic and good sherry vinegar are sold in small bottles and used by the teaspoon — they are worth the price.

Read labels: ‘balsamic vinegar of Modena IGP’ is the everyday kind; ‘tradizionale DOP’ is the aged one, in a distinctive bulb bottle. Seasoned rice vinegar already contains sugar and salt. Vinegars under 5% acidity are not safe for preserving.

Vinegar is tagged on 410 dishes from 145 countries in the atlas. These notes are written from general knowledge and carry no per-fact citation — see About.