Drinking vinegar...new to me

[gfron1]

I met a Korean company at the San Fran Fancy Food Show that was selling an amazing drinking vinegar. They told me it was very common in Korea (I assumed beyond Korea). How common is it? What type of vinegar is being drank?

[prasantrin]

It was very much the thing last year in Japan, and perhaps still is. It's supposed to be quite healthful, and there are many types and flavours available. Black vinegar was the most popular kind, IIRC.

Oops. This article is from 2004, so I guess it's been popular for longer than I thought. . .

[nickrey]

Very special aged traditional balsamic vinegars are used as an aperitif as well.

[Kerry Beal]

I've got about 8 bottles of various flavours on the dining room table - the Japanese stuff. Got to get around to doing something with it.

[Hiroyuki]

In Japan, drinking vinegar has been popular at least for decades.

Su tamago, which is made by simply putting eggs in vinegar (so that egg shells are dissolved in vinegar in days), is also popular.

Images of su tamago

[gfron1]

Thank you for all the info. The type I have is not labeled as black vinegar, and it has been infused with lemongrass. They had other herbed varieties as well. It is also labeled as a concentrate 5:1 water:vinegar. I'll post pics of the packaging which is quite beautiful tonight.

[Andrew Fenton]

Two western examples of drinking vinegar:

Sour wine or vinegar, diluted with water, was what kept the Roman army refreshed on the march.

From more recent times (but still old-timey), there's also "shrub": vinegar mixed with fruit and sugar. It seems to be enjoying something of a comeback in the last couple of years.

[andiesenji]

Drinking vinegar is an ancient tradition in Italy, it goes back to the Romans. One of the Roman generals, who wrote memoirs of campaigns in Gaul, mentioned the health benefits of mixing vinegar with the local water. (It's been 50 years since I read this so the name escapes me, but I do recall this bit of trivia - and his sending a special messenger to obtain garum when his supply was running low.)

I make my own vinegar and have one red variety that is very tasty when mixed with seltzer. It is sweeter than most vinegars.

[Hest88]

The last time I was in Hong Kong they had vinegar drinks among the soft drinks. They were wonderful. The vinegar gives it the same sort of kick carbonation does and acidity is awfully refreshing when it's hot. (Sort of like lemonade, I suppose, but sweeter.) In the U.S. I was quite delighted to find them imported from Taiwan but they've not pretty much disappeared from most Asian supermarket shelves in my area and only sporadically pop up again.

[KatieLoeb]

Apple cider vinegar is often touted for weight loss and other health benefits - liver detoxification, regulation of glucose levels, etc.

[Batard]

My WASPy grandmother used to drink a glass of raw vinegar (with the "mother") mixed into water with a little honey on a daily basis (my grandfather did the same thing, except he used fresh lemon juice instead). She placed a lot of faith in home remedies, and constantly read health magazines. This is 50 years ago.

Some of the claimed benefits of this type of vinegar:

- strengthens the immune system

- detoxifies your blood

- helps circulation

- helps control Type-2 diabetes

- is a natural antibiotic/antifungal

- helps reduce excess fats in cells

On the other hand, I’ve read that vinegar also strips the enamel from your teeth.

There have been some "studies" that claim to show benefits from this type vinegar, but I tend to be skeptical. I'd like to hear more.

Edited January 21, 2009 by Batard (log)

[gfron1]

I make my own vinegar and have one red variety that is very tasty when mixed with seltzer.  It is sweeter than most vinegars.

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Tyler gently reminded me that we polished off the bottle you gave us a few months ago. But its so much more exotic when it comes from Korea

[andiesenji]

I make my own vinegar and have one red variety that is very tasty when mixed with seltzer.  It is sweeter than most vinegars.

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Tyler gently reminded me that we polished off the bottle you gave us a few months ago. But its so much more exotic when it comes from Korea

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Too true! I just came back from the local Filipino market and had a brief conversation with the owner about the variety of vinegars he sells - including coconut - and he mentioned that his mother drinks a combination of the coconut vinegar and coconut juice every morning "to keep her veins clean." (She is 91!)

I bought a bottle of cane vinegar.

My dad is also a devotee of drinking apple cider vinegar (diluted with warm water) on a daily basis. Perhaps there is something to it.

Edited January 21, 2009 by andiesenji (log)

[Peter the eater]

Su tamago, which is made by simply putting eggs in vinegar (so that egg shells are dissolved in vinegar in days), is also popular.

Images of su tamago

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Some of those images are amazing to me, the eggs look translucent.

Are they cooked first?

Will regular 5% acetic acid vinegar dissolve the shell in just a few days?

Why have I been peeling my eggs before pickling?

[Hiroyuki]

Su tamago, which is made by simply putting eggs in vinegar (so that egg shells are dissolved in vinegar in days), is also popular.

Images of su tamago

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Some of those images are amazing to me, the eggs look translucent.

Are they cooked first?

Will regular 5% acetic acid vinegar dissolve the shell in just a few days?

Why have I been peeling my eggs before pickling?

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No, raw eggs. The eggs look translucent because the membrane remain intact. After the shells are dissolved fully, mix the vinegar and the eggs well.

I'm not sure of the the proper percentage, but I'm sure that any type of vinegar can be used to make su tamago.

An aunt of mine used to make su tamago. Me? I hate it!

[Peter the eater]

. . . . An aunt of mine used to make su tamago.  Me?  I hate it!

Uh, oh -- does your aunt know?

Not that I want to revisit unpleasant memories, but what was it like? Anything at all like a raw egg cured in salt?

[Hiroyuki]

. . . . An aunt of mine used to make su tamago.  Me?  I hate it!

Uh, oh -- does your aunt know?

Not that I want to revisit unpleasant memories, but what was it like? Anything at all like a raw egg cured in salt?

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Well, actually, I refused to drink it...

[gfron1]

Here are pics of the product that I'm talking about.

[SheenaGreena]

I remember a few months ago my mother and I watching something on Korean television (on a weekly health documentary) about how drinking vinegar is supposed to be good for you. So of course after watching it my mother and I bought some brown rice vinegar and mixed it with water. Its actually pretty refreshing and I've even made gaennip vinegar for fun. I've heard persimmon vinegar is good as well, but I still haven't tried that.

Tell me how your "lemongrass herbal vinegar" tastes (thats what it says in korean)

[kbjesq]

This is quite an interesting thread. I thought that I was the only one who occasionally craves vinegar. For me, though, I just take a swig right out of the bottle. I don't bother making it into any kind of drink. My favorite vinegars to swig are rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, coconut vinegar, and balsamic. I don't ever get a craving for wine vinegar or white vinegar.

My family thinks that this is a strange habit. I didn't know that I was improving my health! I just love the way it tastes and I get a craving for it every now and then.

[Batard]

From my reading, which is certainly not comprehensive, it seems that the key ingredient that makes vinegar healthy is a gelatinous bacteria called "mother of vinegar”. Apparently you get no health benefit from consuming vinegar that doesn’t contain this. Unfortunately, most commercial producers remove the “mother” before bottling because -- it’s not very pretty. From a marketing angle, clear vinegar sells better than cloudy vinegar. I don’t know how true all that health talk is or if there is any science to back it up, but I thought it was worth raising the issue.

[gfron1]

Tell me how your "lemongrass herbal vinegar" tastes (thats what it says in korean)

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I haven't opened this bottle yet since I want to do something fun with it at my next tasting menu. It was also very cold which of course diminished my ability to taste it. That said, I drank enough to know I liked it. It reminded me of a lightly flavored (lemongrass) tangy tea. There was a bit of the vinegar bite that we all know and love, but it wasn't so strong that it overpowered the more fruity taste of the lemongrass.

[Eden]

Didn't Lord Byron used to drink vinegar?

I would grab the occasional swig of vinegar for years til the moring I was stressing out before cooking a large banquet & gulped down the last bit of a bottle into my apparently already acidic stomach - results were not happy & I can't bring myself to pick the habit back up....

[nickrey]

Looking at the bottle, it seems that the mix is one part vinegar to five parts water. Does this make it a cordial rather than a drinking vinegar as talked about in the other threads?

[piazzola]

many Eastern Europeans will drink apple vinegar regularly with honey and diluted with water for breakfast. It is said to have some curatives properties.