[Sca-cooks] vinegar making

[Stefan li Rous]

Sharon commented:
> If you'd like to have your own vinegar tasting, get 6-8 people or so to
> bring a different kind.  Then taste it on some plain white bread.  
> Dense
> white bead with a fine structure works best, but french or italian work
> fairly well too.  Just avoid sourdough or strongly flavored breads.  I
> find it works well to spoon the vinegar onto the bread rather than 
> trying to
> pour or dip it.

Strange as this must sound, it can be interesting. There was a vinegar 
class at Pennsic 32 and this is essentially what we did. The instructor 
had about a dozen and a half different vinegars.

Afterwards, a portion of the class adjourned to a nearby camp and we 
proceeded to have a Sekanjabin tasting session.

> And it might just be myoverdeveloped sense of taste, but I find that I 
> like
> vinegar (and oil, juice, mustard, jam etc) better if it comes in a 
> glass
> container rather than plastic.  (Though I've had good oil from quality 
> metal
> cans too.) Food in glass generally has a brighter resher taste to me
> than food in plastic.
Probably because plastic bottles tend to be more porous than glass ones 
and let gasses flow in and out. That is why soft drinks don't keep as 
long in the new plastic containers as they did in the glass bottles. It 
is also why glass containers are preferred over plastic ones for 
keeping spices.
>
> I have a white vinegar  that I really liked that seems to have a live
> vinegar mother culture in it.  Does anyone have people in their local
> groups who are into brewing and make vinegar (on purpose :-) )?
Although I don't think I have any precise information on creating 
vinegars, there is some general info in this file in this file in the 
FOOD section of the Florilegium:
vinegar-msg       (56K) 12/ 3/03    Vinegar in period. Making vinegar.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/vinegar-msg.html

These files might also be of interest to you:
Vinegar-art       (20K)  6/26/01    "What's so special about Vinegar?" 
by
                                        Mistress Christianna MacGrain.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/Vinegar-art.html
Vinegar-NJFCC-art (18K) 10/23/01    "Vinegar: Not Just for Cleaning 
Coffeepots"
                                        by THL Mirin ben DhIarmait.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/Vinegar-NJFCC-art.html

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****