{"id":23008,"date":"2015-09-21T05:17:29","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T10:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ou.org\/life\/?p=23008"},"modified":"2016-12-01T03:18:32","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T08:18:32","slug":"recipes_with_vinegar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/food\/recipes_with_vinegar\/","title":{"rendered":"Recipes with Vinegar"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve come to believe that the oldest cooking ingredient known to man (besides manna) may just be vinegar. According to The Vinegar Institute (yes, there is a vinegar institute: Check it out at versitilevinegar.org<\/a>), the use of vinegar can be traced back more than 10,000 years. In fact, flavored vinegars have around almost as long so the wide variety of vinegars available in the market place today just new and improved packaging on a pantry staple.<\/p>\n

It is supposed that, once upon a time, an enterprising vintner who had a cask of slightly sour wine decided to try and use it for cooking instead of drinking. The French said it best when they named it vin (wine) aigre (sour). Lest you think that all vinegars are derived just from grapes, listen up. For lo these many centuries people have also been making vinegar from a variety of foods that ferment. Simply put, vinegar is the byproduct that is created when there is an oxidation of the ethanol in an alcoholic liquid like wine, mead, fermented fruit juice and even beer.<\/p>\n

Of course vinegar is so much more than whipping up a bad batch of wine. It has become a process not unlike that of creating fine wines and some even support a hefty price tag. Some of the true balsamic vinegars made from the white Trebbiano grape in Italy can be aged for more than 20 year and can run more than $100 a bottle. In addition to balsamic, there is apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, rice wine and even coconut vinegar to choose from. One of the best things about vinegar is that it enhances almost any food you pair it with or add to it. Enterprising chefs use fruits, honey, garlic or even herbs to vinegar to help enhance the flavors specialty dishes.<\/p>\n

The breakdowns of the types of vinegars that are most available to the average consumer are:<\/p>\n