Vinegar

from the Latin vinum, meaning "wine", and acer, meaning "sharp or sour", although it's not sour wine, contrary to popular belief. Vinegar is the result of the oxidation of ethanol in wine, cider or beer. Roman legions put wine vinegar into their drinking water to purify it, and Cleopatra once dissolved a perfect pearl in vinegar to win a wager with Mark Antony that she could host the most expensive meal in history. Both the Greeks and the Romans had special vessels for the table in which vinegar was kept for dipping bread. And in 13th-century Paris, vendors sold vinegar from barrels rolled in the street. Flavored vinegars, such as mustard and garlic, were available even then. Vinegar is also, but less commonly, made from other sources, such as champagne, coconut, honey, palm toddy, raisins and raspberries.

Wine vinegar is made by vinegar yeasts in wine, which can occur naturally, but are usually added to guarantee consistent results for commercial production. These yeasts form what's known as a vinegar mother, a floating, cloudy raft of yeast cells, which convert the alcohol into acetic acid. A vinegar mother can also be made at home by adding a piece of bread to stale wine and leaving it at room temperature. In the previous century, vinegar mothers were passed down from mother to daughter, kept alive with the same principles that keep sourdough starters alive. The minimum level of vinegar's acetic acid, required by law in Britain and the U.S., is 6 percent for wine vinegars and 4 percent for all others.

Vinegar is a stimulant to the palate, making the taste buds more receptive to other flavors. Plain white vinegar is derived from malt, rye and barley and is too strong for most tastes. The most adaptable is wine vinegar, made from red or white wine. See also balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar, distilled vinegar, malt vinegar, mother of vinegar, rice vinegar, verjuice.

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