Vinegar making

[Guest guest]

I have a fancy Italian cookbook that gives instructions for making your own red

wine vinegar. I would use organic red wine (yes, there is such a thing, or you

can make your own :-)

 

You need a one gallon container (glass, enamel, stainless or brand-new wood), a

bottle of wine and a slice of freshly baked bread. Soak the bread in a little

wine until it's mushy. Pour the rest of the wine into your container, add the

mushy bread and stir it up real well. Cover the container with a cloth (let in

air but not bugs) and store somewhere warm and dark, like a kitchen cabinet.

 

Depending on how much yeast was active in the bread and how warm your storage

spot is, you'll get vinegar in anywhere from a week to a month. You can just

keep adding wine to the container as you use the vinegar (add no more than half

fresh wine, half old vinegar) and have a constant supply. This brew will also

grow a " mother " (jellylike culture of the vinegar-making beasties) that you can

scoop out and use to start a new batch in a separate container (or give to a

friend).

 

I haven't tried this -- still looking for the fancy wooden cask like in the

cookbook photo ;-) I'm thinking you can use pretty much any variety of wine for

this. I make mead (honey wine) pretty regularly, and the concept of mead

vinegar just intrigues me, so I may just have to do this without the fancy

wooden cask . . .

 

Peace,

Laura