Every dish needs acidity. I think so. It makes everything a little more exciting. It’s also very interesting and easy to do! Here are three ways…
INFUSION:
Simply choose a nice plain vinegar. Or any vinegar really. But to get the most out of it you want quite a neutral flavour. A bit like sauerkraut, or kombucha… choose your vessel, pack it full of fruit, smash it up a bit. Cover with vinegar. Cover or close, it doesn’t really matter because you’re leaving this on the bench overnight. Strain well through a cheese cloth / muslin and funnel into the same bottle the vinegar originally came from. If you use a fermented natural ‘real’ vinegar, and you strain all the solids out, it’s going to last forever.
WINE:
Hard to believe, but sometimes you don’t finish that bottle of wine. And it doesn’t keep forever. If it tastes a bit funny, you can use it for cooking in a braise, a sauce, sangria! Or you can make vinegar… The best way it to add a little ‘living’ fermented vinegar to whatever you have, and wait. Two to three months.
FRUIT:
You can also smash up fruit, maybe add a little water and sugar, cover with a cheese cloth and wait 2 – 4 weeks, up to 8 if the weather is cold. Strain the liquid and there you go. Natural yeasts and bacteria present on the fruit will start a wild ferment, but important to keep your vessel covered with muslin to prevent dust, flies, mould etc from getting in.
MY VERSION:
But I have a lot of fruit and a lot of wine, but no living vinegar or vinegar ‘scoby’ to start the process. What if I mix the fruit and vinegar?
I chose three fruits and three wines. Pear and red wine, mandarin and chardonnay, and grapefruit rosé. I filled the glasses with the fruit, covered them with the wine, then with some cheese cloth. After three weeks I will strain the fruit out and continue the ferment. What will happen I wonder… My Ph meter is ready and waiting!