red wine vinegar, revisited

[caribougrrl]

I have a 2 gallon beverage dispenser (glass) that I bought really cheap with plans to use it for vinegar making... as long as I keep it in a dark place or cover it with something opaque, this should work, right?

[witchypoo]

yes

[RioG]

it will work fine.

[caribougrrl]

I finally exhausted myself trying to find somewhere to buy a vinegar mother in Canada.

Instead I have 2 jars in a dark cupboard, one for malt vinegar (beer + raw cider vinegar) and one for red wine vinegar (red wine + raw cider vinegar + a bit of water), trying to grow some mothers. 

Now I'm wondering why I'm bothering to grow mothers?  Could I have just used raw vinegar to start a batch in my crock?  Or is there some magic to the mother which makes it better than raw vinegar for making large batches?

[Ice Cream]

What's the point in making vinegar?  I don't use it very often.

[caribougrrl]

What's the point in making vinegar?  I don't use it very often.

when I told my dad about my vinegar making plans he said "Do you know how cheap vinegar is?"

A few years ago I was carpooling with a 2nd generation italian immigrant.  We spent a lot of time talking about food.  He brought me a bottle of his dad's home made red wine vinegar one day... that was, hands down, the best vinegar I'd ever had.  Extraordinary.  I want to be able to make vinegar that makes people stop dead in their tracks and wonder why they never knew how incredibly good vinegar is.

We do actually use a lot of vinegar in our house.  Sauces, marinades, salad dressing, seasoning, shrubs... I will still buy distilled white vinegar for cleaning & laundry though.

[Natasha]

when I told my dad about my vinegar making plans he said "Do you know how cheap vinegar is?"

A few years ago I was carpooling with a 2nd generation italian immigrant.  We spent a lot of time talking about food.  He brought me a bottle of his dad's home made red wine vinegar one day... that was, hands down, the best vinegar I'd ever had.  Extraordinary.  I want to be able to make vinegar that makes people stop dead in their tracks and wonder why they never knew how incredibly good vinegar is.

We do actually use a lot of vinegar in our house.  Sauces, marinades, salad dressing, seasoning, shrubs... I will still buy distilled white vinegar for cleaning & laundry though.

  like broccoli?

[Ice Cream]

when I told my dad about my vinegar making plans he said "Do you know how cheap vinegar is?"

A few years ago I was carpooling with a 2nd generation italian immigrant.  We spent a lot of time talking about food.  He brought me a bottle of his dad's home made red wine vinegar one day... that was, hands down, the best vinegar I'd ever had.  Extraordinary.  I want to be able to make vinegar that makes people stop dead in their tracks and wonder why they never knew how incredibly good vinegar is.

We do actually use a lot of vinegar in our house.  Sauces, marinades, salad dressing, seasoning, shrubs... I will still buy distilled white vinegar for cleaning & laundry though.

My parents had a great wine cellar.  Whenever a bottle had gone bad, we would simply use it as vinegar.  I would say the odds of a bad wine bottle in old wine were about 1/15.

[caribougrrl]

like broccoli?

also called drinking vinegar... it's essentially vinegar infused with fruit, then sweetened... you mix it with soda water to drink (very popular in cocktails these days too)

[witchypoo]

also called drinking vinegar... it's essentially vinegar infused with fruit, then sweetened... you mix it with soda water to drink (very popular in cocktails these days too)

and it's DELICIOUS.

i can't sell my husband on it, though.

[Natasha]

Ha! I'm glad I asked, because I assumed it was an autocorrect.