Vinegar: Varieties and Use

[TheTInCook]

Grains is the % concentration times 10. 12% vinegar is pretty strong stuff. What are you using it for?

[Eman57]

Trying to make a hot sauce kinda tabascoish, very vinegary and spicy with a short heat. i need a stronger vinegar, but i wasnt sure how vinegar was measured.

Edited June 27, 2011 by Eman57 (log)

[Frederic]

Regular vinegar is 5% acetic acid, so if you have 12% than that is reasonably strong. The strongest you can get is glacial acetic acid which is 56% (11x more concentrated). There are vendors of "food grade glacial acetic acid" on eBay and elsewhere that can help you out if you do not have access to stores that might sell it locally (if the 12% stuff isn't strong enough for your purposes that is).

[TheTInCook]

Pretty sure that glacial acetic acid is the pure anhydrous stuff. It's a little dangerous not only because of the corrosiveness, but also because it lets lose lots of heat when you dilute it.

[Dexter]

Glacial acetic acid refers to the stuff that freezes at 17C - still hydrous though. The anhydrous stuff is called acetic anhydride (very nasty if you aren't using proper chemical safety equipment). Much past 15% acetic acid can cause blistering and chemical burns, so if you are looking for something "stronger," it's almost certainly not a problem of the strength of the acid. You might want to try working with other flavorings or spices that will increase the "prickly" sensation of vinegar, like szechuan peppercorns, citrates, or even playing with the salt concentration in the mix.

[andiesenji]

Vinegar is measured with a pH meter. More precise than test strips commonly used in the past.

There are many types of pH meters, fairly inexpensive.

Some info here.

And here

You don't have to spend a huge amount on a pH meter but you do have to calibrate it often to be sure it is accurate.

[AAQuesada]

My favorite rice wine vinegar 6.29 for 500ml the mizkan junmai su. 
 

Also attached some other vinegars i purchased recently at a gourmet wholesaler in the LA area that is open to the public 

 

 

[TdeV]

Since we're on the subject of fermentation and food safety, I'm wondering if it's possible to use a mild vinegar when preserving foods. Most vinegars are too vinegary for me. Several times I have followed @gfweb's recipe for quick pickles which uses only a small amount of vinegar, but I've also noticed the jar contents go blue if I've left them too long in the fridge.

 

What should I look for in vinegar choices? Any recommendations?

 

(I seem to be able to tolerate the salt, even though I'm a low salt person).

[kayb]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

Since we're on the subject of fermentation and food safety, I'm wondering if it's possible to use a mild vinegar when preserving foods. Most vinegars are too vinegary for me. Several times I have followed @gfweb's recipe for quick pickles which uses only a small amount of vinegar, but I've also noticed the jar contents go blue if I've left them too long in the fridge.

 

What should I look for in vinegar choices? Any recommendations?

 

(I seem to be able to tolerate the salt, even though I'm a low salt person).

 

I find that I like the taste of apple cider vinegar, vs distilled white vinegar, in pickled things. I tend to use a 1:1 vinegar-water mix.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

I'm wondering if it's possible to use a mild vinegar when preserving foods. Most vinegars are too vinegary for me.

 

Although I can get western type vinegars easily, I do most of my pickles in Chinese white rice wine vinegar which I find to be much milder. My pickles tend to be of the quick variety, although I have done longer treatments with results which please me.

 

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

@TdeV I found this article and it is the standard that I have always tried to go by.

 

"you may safely use either white or cider vinegar as long as it is labeled as 5% acidity. Sometimes it is labeled as 50 grain."

 

 I have to be very careful about the vinegars that I buy here because so many of them are synthetic vinegar and they don't come up to this standard.

@liuzhou I was curious to see that you say that you use rice wine vinegar. The vinegars that I get here just say rice vinegar. I have even been corrected by some 'cooking aficionados' when I said I used rice wine vinegar and been told that there is no such thing. Is there a difference in the taste between rice wine vinegar and rice vinegar? Is it milder?

These are the two that I have on hand. I know that the one on the right is Japanese but the one on the left is much more acidic, much sharper.

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[liuzhou]

Rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are the same thing. All vinegar is technically some kind of fruit  wine based. The name is from the Old French vyn egre, meaning 'aged wine'. In botanical language a grain of a cereal plant is not a ‘seed’ but a ‘fruit’ of the kind called caryopsis.

 

As with most things, the flavour varies with brand but, in general, I find the rice vinegar milder than many western vinegars.

[Tropicalsenior]

8 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I find the rice vinegar milder than many western vinegars

Oh, I definitely agree. Thank you for the information. It clears up a lot for me. I'm glad to know that I can use the rice vinegar for pickling. I usually use the Heinz apple cider or the Heinz distilled white vinegar.

I Googled the process for making the synthetic vinegar and it is definitely something to stay away from.

[blue_dolphin]

2 hours ago, TdeV said:

Since we're on the subject of fermentation and food safety, I'm wondering if it's possible to use a mild vinegar when preserving foods. Most vinegars are too vinegary for me. Several times I have followed @gfweb's recipe for quick pickles which uses only a small amount of vinegar, but I've also noticed the jar contents go blue if I've left them too long in the fridge.

 

What should I look for in vinegar choices? Any recommendations?

 

I've always thought of quick pickles as fruit or veg that's flavored with vinegar +/- other seasonings and intended for consumption in the short term but NOT a method of preservation for long term storage. 

In that scenario, it seems like you could just dilute the vinegar to suit your taste.

I suppose the higher the acid, the longer they may keep but if you don't like the taste, that doesn't really matter!

[SLB]

3 hours ago, TdeV said:

What should I look for in vinegar choices? Any recommendations?

 

My understanding was that any vinegar of at least 5% acidity will suffice for preservation.  Without going to check, I believe I learned this from "Saving the Season". 

 

I usually sub in a relatively cheap white wine vinegar for vinegar-pickles, "Vilux".  For quick pickles, I've been known to use fruit vinegars; mostly because I don't like fruit vinegars in almost anything else.  A fact I discovered after I'd bought a whole bunch of 'em.  

Edited June 16, 2023 by SLB (log)

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, SLB said:

 

I usually sub in a relatively cheap white wine vinegar for vinegar-pickles, "Vilux".  For quick pickles, I've been known to use fruit vinegars; mostly because I don't like fruit vinegars in almost anything else. 

 

White wine vinegar is a fruit vinegar!

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I've always thought of quick pickles as fruit or veg that's flavored with vinegar +/- other seasonings and intended for consumption in the short term but NOT a method of preservation for long term storage. 

That's generally true and anything that is quick pickles must be stored under Refrigeration. Diluting the vinegar would make a difference of being able to keep them a few days or a few weeks.

[heidih]

10 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

White wine vinegar is a fruit vinegar!

In the U.S. that term is associated with berry based sweeter/fragrant vinegars. Odd as grapes are clearly fruit. But - language can be odd.

[SLB]

12 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

White wine vinegar is a fruit vinegar!

Fair point.