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Vinegar is perhaps the oldest healing home remedy. An early Assyrian medical text describes an application of vinegar to treat ear pain. In biblical times it was used to dress wounds and infectious sores. During the U.S. Civil War, vinegar was credited with saving the lives of thousands of soldiers, as it was applied routinely as a disinfectant on wounds.

Essentially vinegar is spoiled wine, most likely accidentally discovered about ten thousand years ago around the time wine was discovered. Its word origin may be French: vinaigre (vin—wine; aigre—sour). Technically it is an acidic liquid made from almost any mildly sweet or alcoholic beverage such as wine, cider, or beer, though health benefits are usually linked to vinegar made from apple cider.

In times past the elaborate process of souring apple cider into vinegar often had magical overtones. However, a tiny microorganism, the vinegar bacillus, produces what is known as an “acetous fermentation,” creating water and acetic acid, which gives vinegar its characteristic tart taste. Two separate and distinct fermentation processes are required to make vinegar. In the first, sugar is changed to alcohol, and in the second, alcohol is changed to acetic acid. This process was thought to confer a special healing ability on the end product, hence its reported traditional use as an enduring health remedy.