Our Acidic Friend 1

Well, its been awhile, sorry about that. One day randomly my lovely computer decided to fry and I could not get it fixed until slightly after new years. I know this does not explain why I'm posting so late, well its a mix of procrastination and not knowing what I wanted to cover next. I still don't know, so I decided to just introduce an ongoing series on vinegar.

I love the stuff and its got a special place in my heart, but most people only know the basic vinegars and while I'm going to cover the most common type, at least in my house, there are many more exotic vinegars.

Lets first state what all vinegars are: wine gone bad. I know its a crude way of putting it, but its the easiest way to explain. Grapes ferment to wine, then wine will ferment to vinegar. You can nearly see it in the name, but that will wait for another vinegar blog. So we have the basis of how vinegar has come to be. Well not really, but all you need to know is that it is quite possibly the best mistake ever made.

*cue theme from Jaws* Our vinegar today is white distilled vinegar. Our most basic, cheapest, and common vinegar. What you don't have that in your pantry? Psh come on, we all have it whether we would like to admit it or not. Its universal and cheap, who argues with that? I know lots of people love to use it as a cleaning aid and yeah I can't argue with that, but I like to stick to food. I don't know why people dismiss it so much it has no flavor other than that vinegar tang, which makes it perfect to give food a tang without adding necessary flavoring.

Now I would love to include its history, but the internet has not been that nice to me today maybe another blog will handle that. Ok so whats the one use you remember using white vinegar for as a kid? Yup, Easter eggs, but they aren't the only ones to hold the handle for it today. I have found many vinegar recipes for this, the most disturbing being a Vinegar Pie...yeah I had that look on my face too. So I know you don't want a dessert to hold your vinegar, but trust me its got so many more uses other than Billies science project. How many salads have you had with vinegar? Most of them. Now I know that most call for your fancy shmancy foreign vinegars, but with a little creativity and great ingridients I'm sure you can make one even better with white vinegar than white wine vinegar.

Of course you can use it for pickling and canning, but where's the fun in that? Try adding a bit to your arsenal of sauces. I'd never suggest excedding a tsp, but a small glug to that tomatoe sauce going over those pork chop? Yum! My favorite recipe? Well Sauerbraten, its a way to marinate a meat for three days in vinegar, turning halfway every 12 hours. There is more to it, but I haven't managed to steal the recipe from my mom. I'll add one on here in a few days.

Are you going to use it now? What no? I see you pushing it to the front. Well I'll get to your fear one day, but for now, I have to find something warmer to wear. Buh-Bye.

Your dedicated foodie,
Zeni