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Home-made Vinegar

A vinegar made by fermenting apple parings with water and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Home-made Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liquid

  1. Place all apple parings in a stone crock and cover with water.

  2. When soft, squeeze the pulp through a jelly bag into jugs.

Ferment

  1. Add any saved sweets and ½ pound of brown sugar per gallon of liquid.

  2. Cover the jug with a thin cloth and set it in a warm place to sour.

  3. For faster results, add a vinegar plant or mother.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Apple + vinegartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,884 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Apple parings
Supply fermentable sugars and fruity flavor for the liquid to turn into vinegar.
Brown sugar
Adds extra sugar that microbes convert into acetic acid, strengthening the vinegar.
Vinegar plant or mother
Contains acetic acid bacteria that start souring the liquid sooner.

The step that matters

Cover the jug with a thin cloth and keep it warm. Acetic acid bacteria need air to turn alcohol into acetic acid, so the cloth should let air in while keeping insects and dust out. Warmth speeds this souring. A sealed jug can stall or spoil.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Pineapplefits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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