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THE HISTORY OF VINEGAR

The word vinegar comes from the French vin aigre, translated as sour wine, which accurately describes it. If you’ve ever left the dregs of an open bottle of wine for a few days and then attempted to drink the contents, only to be met with a sour taste, you’ve already started on the journey of vinegar-making. There are records of this magic ingredient being made as early as 5,000 BC in Babylon, and it’s thought that it was the result of a slipup while fermenting some wine. People cooking at that time experimented with this liquor, discovering that it could be used as both a condiment and ingredient.

Today it is a popular ingredient, produced commercially by either fast or slow fermentation. In fast fermentation, the liquid is oxygenated and the bacteria culture added. Slow fermentation is generally used for the production of specialised vinegars used in cooking; the culture of acetic acid bacteria grows on the surface of the liquid and fermentation evolves gradually over weeks or months and allows for the formation of a harmless slime made up of yeast and acetic acid bacteria, also known as the vinegar mother.

As history has already told, you can by all means leave a bottle of wine open – covered with a cloth that lets in air but not fruit flies – and eventually it will turn into vinegar. It may take months, though, so if you want to speed up the process and guarantee a result, here are a few pointers.

Firstly, vinegar is like sourdough and yogurt, in that it’s good to have some kind of starter to begin with. With sourdough it’s a leaven to add to flour and water; with yogurt it’s a couple of tablespoons of yogurt to add to milk that’s then heated. For vinegar, it’s some unpasteurised vinegar with the mother to start the process. These bottles are labelled clearly and you can buy them online and in supermarkets and delis.

Secondly, you need time. The mixture of wine and a vinegar mother won’t turn into vinegar overnight. You need a dark cupboard and the patience to wait for the mixture to ferment and the bacteria from the vinegar mother to turn the alcohol into acetic acid.

Thirdly, you need oxygen from the air, so use a wide-mouthed jar or ceramic pot and cover it with muslin or cheesecloth so the oxygen can get in but bugs can’t.

Whether you’re making wine or beer vinegar (see here), the basic recipe is much the same. Pour 400ml red wine or beer into a large open-mouthed jar (either ceramic or glass) then pour 200ml unpasteurised cider vinegar with the mother into the jar, too. Cover with a muslin or cheesecloth square and secure with a band. Label and store in a cool dark place for at least one month. It may take longer depending on conditions, but just keep tasting as you go. Some vinegar will naturally evaporate so, depending on how long it takes for the vinegar to brew, you’ll get around 400ml to use. You may find that a jelly-like substance forms in the liquid – don’t bin this, lift it out and transfer to another sterilised jar and use it to make another batch of vinegar with some of the unpasteurised liquor you’ve just fermented.