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Cider Vinegar

A fermented vinegar made from rye meal, cider, whiskey, and optional honey or sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Cider Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cider vinegar

  1. Mix 6 quarts of rye meal into a barrel of strong hard cider.

  2. Add 1 gallon of whiskey.

  3. Cover the cask loosely.

  4. Place the cask in a sunny, airy spot for 4 weeks.

  5. Draw off vinegar.

  6. Replenish with the same amount of cider.

  7. Add 1 pint of whiskey.

  8. Mix cider with 1 pound of honey.

  9. Let it stand for 5-6 months.

Make the white vinegar

  1. Mix 5 gallons of water, 2 gallons of whiskey, and 1 quart of strong yeast.

  2. Stir in 2 pounds of powdered charcoal.

  3. Leave the bung loose during fermentation.

  4. Cover slightly to keep out dust.

  5. After 4 months, draw off the vinegar.

Make the sugar vinegar

  1. Mix ½ pound of sugar with 1 gallon of water.

  2. Boil the mixture.

  3. Skim until scum ceases.

  4. Cool the mixture.

  5. Add yeast on toast.

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. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Honey + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,586 recipes

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

  3. Cider + honeytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together256 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl decanoate (grape, waxy).

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  5. Rye + honeytop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Rye meal
Supplies starch and nutrients that feed the fermenting yeast and bacteria.
Hard cider
Provides the alcohol that acetic acid bacteria convert into vinegar.
Whiskey
Adds more alcohol to feed the acetic fermentation and raise the acid content.
Honey
Adds sugar that feeds the fermentation and gives a rounder, sweeter flavour.
Powdered charcoal
Helps clear the liquid and absorb impurities during fermentation.
White sugar
Provides sugar that ferments into alcohol, which bacteria then turn into acetic acid.

The step that matters

Keep the cask loosely covered and in a sunny, airy spot. Acetic acid bacteria need oxygen to turn alcohol into acetic acid. Sealing the container tightly blocks air and stalls fermentation, while a loose cover keeps out dust and insects.

“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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