wine vinegar?

[wittey]

Since there are sooooo many catagories here now I was not sure where to post so I will ask my question here.
I have a couple gallons of different kinds wine vinegar that is 5 to 10 years old, what could I use it for?

[333]

Peace,

Hi Wittey,

"Other food related issues sounds" like the right place.


333

[wittey]

Thanks 333
I wasnt sure I should put it in food, cleaners or pest control.

[CarolAnn]

Wittey,
We're working on reducing the categories!
As for wine vinegar, PLEASE don't waste it on cleaning! :D

One part vinegar to one part sugar (or 1/2 part honey) is the basis for lots of zippy sweet/sour recipes such as:
Add it to a pasta salad to give it more zip, cook it into a sauce with some corn starch to put over cooked potatoes with onion and crisp bacon for German potato salad, to mixed, cooked shell beans (also with cooked onion and bacon) for Calico beans, or to stir fry for Chinese sweet-sour.

Obviously, with oil it makes a great salad dressing!

If this wine vinegar is some wine that turned, you may have to experiment to get the right amount of "sour" to sweet, since it probably won't be as uniform as store bought stuff.

If you can get your hands on some fresh terragon, heat up a pint of vinegar just to a simmer, then bottle it and put in the washed terragon. In a few days you will not believe how tasty that vinegar has become! It remains sour, but the harsh edge is taken off and there's a hint of the sweet herbal taste. It's FABULOUS in anything that calls for vinegar!

[CarolAnn]

I forgot - vinegar loves herbs of many kinds besides terragon!

Loveage is an herb that imparts a celery taste to vinegar that's better than celery.

Dill seeds or celery seeds crushed up a bit to release their volatile oils into the vinegar are also good. This can be used in any savory recipe that calls for vinegar!

Wine vinegar is worlds better than store-bought white vinegar. I think of "stop bath" - acetic acid used in photography - when I taste something made with white vinegar, but the natural fruityness of real wine vinegar or even apple cider vinegar (not the fake "flavored" stuff") makes food really great!

[wittey]

So what you are saying is that wine vinegar thats 5 and 10 years past the sell by date is still good for the same things I would normally use wine vinegar for?

[annabella1]

The sell by date shouldn't matter with vinegar. Vinegar itself is a preservative. If you have any doubt about it bring it to a boil and see if there are any off odors. It should smell vinegary of course. Sometimes in natural vinegars there will form a "mother" of vinegar in the bottom of the bottle. This can be used to make more vinegar, the only problem with homemade vinegar is getting the acidity right they are usually stronger than the 5% acidity in the store bought vinegars and they will knock the enamel right off your teeth.

[Penny_Plinker]

WOW, you're so lucky to have a couple gallons of white wine vinegar! *Have you priced that stuff? *I had to buy some to make some rosemary-lemon pickled beans. *$1.88 at Walmart *and that was only a small bottle so i had to buy two bottles. *I made the beans, but they have to set for 2 weeks before tasting, so i don't know how they came out. *But i had some leftover brine and cut some cucumbers up in it and they were fantastic!

Wish i could tell you about that expiration date. *Maybe buy a small bottle out of fresh and then do a taste test between the two and you should be able to tell if it's still good.

Penny