VINEGAR

A few years ago, a very special friend of mine, Sam Hughes, gave me a flagon of honey-coloured semillon he’d made. When I pulled it out of the cellar a year later, I was heartbroken to see that the wine’s seal was broken. It was drinkable, but not great. Unable to throw it away, I decanted it into a large jar and added the mother culture from some apple cider vinegar. Six months later I tasted it. To my surprise and relief, I found that my science experiment had yielded a truly exceptional vinegar. This is what I love about learning to cook from scratch. It isn’t always about planning, hard work and mountains of ingredients – sometimes you have a crack at a project on a whim and end up with something really special.

To make vinegar, you just need good-quality booze and some unpasteurised vinegar or a vinegar ‘mother’ from a health food shop, and you’re on your way.

MAKES: 2 x 750 ml (26 fl oz) bottles

INGREDIENTS

2 x 750 ml (26 fl oz) bottles of organic preservative-free wine, cider or sparkling wine

125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) unpasteurised apple cider vinegar (available from health food shops), or a vinegar ‘mother’ culture

EQUIPMENT

1 x 2 litre (64 oz) jar or ceramic crock funnel

clean tightly woven cloth, for covering the jar

rubber band or kitchen string, for securing the cloth

2 x 750 ml (26 fl oz) narrow-necked bottles with lids

VINEGAR METHOD

1.

Prepare your jar: Wash the jar or ceramic crock in hot soapy water, then rinse well and air dry.

2.

Fill your jar: Pour the wine into the jar, then add the vinegar or mother.

3.

Seal and leave: Loosely cover the rim of the jar with a tightly woven cloth, then secure with a rubber band or kitchen string. Leave the jar in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place.

4.

Check in: After a few weeks, start tasting and smelling your brew. Depending on the ambient temperature, the vinegar mother and the alcohol, fermentation can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months, so just keep tasting until you like it and the alcohol has been transformed into vinegar.

5.

Decant and store: Decant your brew into smaller bottles, then seal and store in the pantry, where your vinegar will keep indefinitely. If you are concerned about oxidisation, you can process the sealed bottles in a saucepan of boiling water at 60°C (140°F) for 10 minutes.

HOW TO USE