View topic - Problem with artisan vinegar.

by **aero280** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 1:53 am

A year or two back, I bought a nice bottle of "artisanal" Honey Vinegar at a village fair in the south of France. I've used it on and off. But when i went to use it this time, it poured badly and the neck of the bottle blocked. On inspection a large lump of jelly-like substance has formed in the bottle. It's about 50% of the remaining content and doesn't disappear easily by shaking. I managed to get a lump out, and it's quite tough and doesn't dissolve easily in water either.

What is going on? I've no experience of any other vinegar "going off" like this.

by **Pampy** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:28 am

Sounds like it's the "mother" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_of_vinegar

by **aero280** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:11 am

Well, that’s a new one on me!

Maybe I should start making my own vinegar…

by **Stokey Sue** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 11:29 am

Yes, just vinegar mother - have you never seen Ian’s vinaigrier, a pot with a spigot into which he pours oddments of wine to feed his vinegar mother?

scullion too, discussed previously on the Test Kitchen thread

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4914&p=135305&hilit=Vinegar#p135170

by **PatsyMFagan** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 11:45 am

Pampy wrote:Sounds like it's the "mother" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_of_vinegar

Pampy is right Aero .... those who ferment their own vinegar would die for this ... I know you don't 'do' facebook but there is a very popular group dedicated to all things ferminting

by **aero280** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 12:15 pm

I completely missed that thread! Next time I meet Ian, I will ask him!

We’ve met for lunch when he has been over at Christmas, but he hasn5 been for a couple of years now. He and Jacquie have sold the Gite and moved into the town. We have no plans for France this year, we are hopefully heading to Sweden. Todays news that the French have banned through travel, is a bit worrying. Hope they relax that before the summer.

by **Stokey Sue** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 12:20 pm

I didn’t know they’d actually moved, I knew they planned to, I see Jacquie on Facebook very occasionally

The vinaigrier may have been a casualty of the change of course, it’s quite big

by **scullion** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 12:29 pm

yup, lucky you!
i have found that a thicker mother grows when a sweet wine is used to feed the mother - maybe that's why yours has grown well.
i would be inclined to divide it in two and create a red and a white wine vinegar jar.
i made my own vinaigriers from some large, wide necked glass jars.
china (eBay) sell some good (amazingly cheap) stainless steel spigots - a diamond burr and glass grinding pads for making the holes in the jars and you're good to go.

by **scullion** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 12:31 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:The vinaigrier may have been a casualty of the change of course, it’s quite big

i doubt that - i would think it would have gone with them - they are like pets!

by **aero280** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:21 pm

I laid the bottle down and took a picture...

: IMG_4084.JPG (58.11 KiB) Viewed 4283 times

by **Seatallan** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 4:18 pm

Gosh, that's fascinating!! I never knew that. You live & learn. :thumbsup

by **scullion** » Thu Dec 30, 2021 4:49 pm

it looks like you had one growing, then moved the bottle (and it sank) then it grew another on the surface. putting each in a jar with some wine - and divide the rest of the vinegar in the bottle between the jars will be a rapid start to your life with vinegar pets - you may never need to buy vinegar ever again (just wine).
you can sometimes find them in unpasteurised, organic vinegar - if you're lucky.

by **ZeroCook** » Fri Dec 31, 2021 7:07 am

.
I think you're very lucky Aero! I tried all last summer to make pineapple vinegar and produce a mother with no luck!

by **Pepper Pig** » Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:39 am

More on vinegar in today's Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/j ... te-cooking

by **aero280** » Sat Jan 01, 2022 12:26 pm

I saw the bit in the Guardian this morning. Making vinegar seems fairly straightforward. The issue that I have is that I don’t really use a lot of vinegar. The bottle of honey vinegar is 5 years old and there’s still quite a bit left. Additionally, we don’t drink a lot of wine, and when we do we tend to finish the bottle over a couple of days. So nothing to top it up with.

I’ll think about it. Alternatively I could put the lumps of “mother” into a container or two and give them away to an interested party.

by **scullion** » Sat Jan 01, 2022 2:04 pm

i tend to buy cheap wine for mine as we don't drink a huge amount (and have a vacuvin) and i use the vinegar for making chutney, salad dressings - and supplying the young.

by **ZeroCook** » Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:15 am

.
Thanks for the link

I use a lot of vinegar and would happily buy cheap wine to diy. Vinegar mother, too

by **Stokey Sue** » Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:59 am

Article in today’s Guardian, mainly Sando Katz, a useful reminder that vinegar doesn’t have to be made from wine

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/j ... SApp_Other

by **Pepper Pig** » Sun Jan 02, 2022 12:27 pm

I think that's the same one I linked to Sue.

by **Stokey Sue** » Sun Jan 02, 2022 1:20 pm

Ah, I didn’t notice that PP, and I quite often don’t follow links unless there’s some info to tempt me

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