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Thing Forty-Eight: Vinegar
May. 16th, 2014 02:28 pmI think this is the first time I've posted about making something that I'm using primarily as an ingredient in other things. I suppose yogurt could count, since I usually eat it with other things (on oatmeal, with honey and fruit, etc.), but this is a real raw ingredient. Yes, I made my own vinegar!
It all started a few years back. I noticed that a big ol' chunk of slime was sitting in my balsamic vinegar bottle. Grossed out beyond belief, I threw it away. It wasn't until later that I found out that the slimeball was actually something called a vinegar mother. This is a collection of the awesome little bacteria that convert ethanol (the kind of alcohol that we drink) to vinegar. This slimeball, I read, could be used to make your own vinegar from wine! How exciting! I resolved that if I were ever to see a slimeball like that again, I would treasure it instead of throwing it away, and would use it to make vinegar.
It took a few years before I found another mother in a vinegar bottle. Again, it was the balsamic variety. When I finished the vinegar, I bought myself an inexpensive bottle of red wine from Trader Joe's (don't ask me what kind, but it was a dollar or two over the price of the Two-Buck Chuck). I also bought a glass crock that could easily hold the entire bottle, with more than enough space left over for the mother. I poured the wine into the crock, and shook the vinegar bottle over it until the slimeball squeezed out with a schlup and fell in with a plop. I covered the crock with cheesecloth to keep bugs (and cat hair) out, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Everything I read said that only a couple weeks were necessary to turn wine into vinegar, but my wine wasn't getting sour, and I was getting impatient. After a little more research, I concluded that sadly, my mother was mostly made up of dead bacteria, not live and hungry ones. I decided that instead of throwing away a failed experiment, I'd fix it with a cheat. I went out and bought some Bragg's Cider Vinegar, an unfiltered raw vinegar that has the mother still in it. In their vinegar, the mother is not a slimeball, but a less nasty-looking cloudy haze that settles to the bottom of the bottle if undisturbed. I poured a little of it into my wine, and waited.
I did not have to wait as long, this time. Before too much time had passed, my wine was mouth-puckeringly sour. I had vinegar! A couple of nights ago, I did my best to filter it. Unfortunately, it seemed to clog up paper coffee filters. I ended up using a chinois and calling it good, but I'd like a somewhat clearer vinegar next time. After all, I don't need to save it for a mother if I have the Bragg's. I reckon that any filtering method I used at home would still leave SOME of the mother in the vinegar, anyway.
Last night, I used the vinegar to make a Greek salad dressing. I mixed it with extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, and oregano, a pinch of salt, and just a tiny pinch of sugar to balance it out. The vinegar definitely has more character than the one-dimensional stuff from the supermarket. I'm really excited by that. I'm interested now in making other vinegars, perhaps from mead or sherry. I may even make some just to give as gifts. The more scientific side of my chef self also wants to get some pH testing strips that I can use to determine pH over a wider range than the set we currently have in the brewing box can handle. I figure, if I can ensure that the pH is at the right level, I can use it in pickling! Exciting!
It all started a few years back. I noticed that a big ol' chunk of slime was sitting in my balsamic vinegar bottle. Grossed out beyond belief, I threw it away. It wasn't until later that I found out that the slimeball was actually something called a vinegar mother. This is a collection of the awesome little bacteria that convert ethanol (the kind of alcohol that we drink) to vinegar. This slimeball, I read, could be used to make your own vinegar from wine! How exciting! I resolved that if I were ever to see a slimeball like that again, I would treasure it instead of throwing it away, and would use it to make vinegar.
It took a few years before I found another mother in a vinegar bottle. Again, it was the balsamic variety. When I finished the vinegar, I bought myself an inexpensive bottle of red wine from Trader Joe's (don't ask me what kind, but it was a dollar or two over the price of the Two-Buck Chuck). I also bought a glass crock that could easily hold the entire bottle, with more than enough space left over for the mother. I poured the wine into the crock, and shook the vinegar bottle over it until the slimeball squeezed out with a schlup and fell in with a plop. I covered the crock with cheesecloth to keep bugs (and cat hair) out, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Everything I read said that only a couple weeks were necessary to turn wine into vinegar, but my wine wasn't getting sour, and I was getting impatient. After a little more research, I concluded that sadly, my mother was mostly made up of dead bacteria, not live and hungry ones. I decided that instead of throwing away a failed experiment, I'd fix it with a cheat. I went out and bought some Bragg's Cider Vinegar, an unfiltered raw vinegar that has the mother still in it. In their vinegar, the mother is not a slimeball, but a less nasty-looking cloudy haze that settles to the bottom of the bottle if undisturbed. I poured a little of it into my wine, and waited.
I did not have to wait as long, this time. Before too much time had passed, my wine was mouth-puckeringly sour. I had vinegar! A couple of nights ago, I did my best to filter it. Unfortunately, it seemed to clog up paper coffee filters. I ended up using a chinois and calling it good, but I'd like a somewhat clearer vinegar next time. After all, I don't need to save it for a mother if I have the Bragg's. I reckon that any filtering method I used at home would still leave SOME of the mother in the vinegar, anyway.
Last night, I used the vinegar to make a Greek salad dressing. I mixed it with extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, and oregano, a pinch of salt, and just a tiny pinch of sugar to balance it out. The vinegar definitely has more character than the one-dimensional stuff from the supermarket. I'm really excited by that. I'm interested now in making other vinegars, perhaps from mead or sherry. I may even make some just to give as gifts. The more scientific side of my chef self also wants to get some pH testing strips that I can use to determine pH over a wider range than the set we currently have in the brewing box can handle. I figure, if I can ensure that the pH is at the right level, I can use it in pickling! Exciting!
