Gooseberry Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Wash the gooseberries in a tub with a mallet.
Add the warm water and let it stand for 24 hours.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.
Stir in the sugar until well mixed.
Ferment
Transfer to a 9‑gallon cask, adding more water if not full.
Stir the mixture from the bottom 2‑3 times daily for 3‑4 days.
Cover the bunghole with a piece of linen cloth and place the cask in a warm area, away from direct sunlight.
Let it remain in the cask for 9 months before drawing off into stone bottles.
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
What each ingredient does
- Gooseberries
- Provide the fruit flavor and the main body of the vinegar.
- Sugar
- Feeds the fermentation, which converts it into acetic acid, the source of the vinegar's sourness.
- Water
- Dilutes the fruit into a liquid that can ferment slowly and evenly.
The step that matters
Stirring from the bottom during the first days. Stirring keeps the sugar and fruit evenly distributed and supplies air to the surface, helping the yeast start fermentation without spoilage. Stirring from the bottom mixes the solids that would otherwise sink and sour unevenly.
“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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