SC - Vinegar

[Stefan li Rous]

A little over a week ago, Anne-Marie asked:

Chiquart specifies red wine vinegar in his shopping lists. Is this because
being Savoiard, this is the type he could get? Would an English cook use
malt vinegar, ie fermenting the easier to get beer, rather than the
imported wine? 
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I imagine they used a variety of vinegars depending on what was available
locally and what was available in their area as imports. This of course,
is highly variable depending upon the time period and how close you were
to water transport.

I found the following comment in this file in the FOOD section of my
Florilegium:
vinegar-msg       (16K)  8/12/97    Vinegar in period. Making vinegar.

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Prior to 1800, the best known commercial vinegar producing method was 
called the Orleans method, which took 3-4 months to process a barrel of 
about 50 galls, but this was in still conditions on land. As the process 
normally takes place only at the air/liquid surface (because of need to 
get sufficient air into the liquid), thrashing the contents of the cask 
around while bringing it over from France, or further by ship, speeds up 
the process enormously. Bouncing it around on the back of a cart or pack 
animals would help too. Later out of period processes also sped things up 
by enabling more air to be put into the liquid easily.

Indeed the problem with wine in period was to stop it going off (note 
Biblical references to new wine/old wine), which was not easily 
accomplished without bottling, or special sealed storage jars, and the 
sealant was a problem before cork was used late in period. Keeping it in 
barrels is risky, especially since the science (or is that art:-) of the 
time didn't understand things the way we do now.

Robin
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If someone has evidence that vinegar was intentionally, rather than
accidentally imported, I would be interested in seeing evidence.

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net
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