If you are an avid home chef, you already know that vinegar is a pantry powerhouse with limitless uses. Working vinegar into your culinary toolkit is an excellent way to add a punch of flavor and personality to a host of dishes, especially salad dressings, marinades, chutneys, sauces and soups. At the same time, vinegar may be good for your health, possibly helping to control blood sugar and lower cholesterol. Indeed, there are no reasons not to keep vinegar in your culinary toolkit.
What Is Vinegar?
The word “vinegar” is derived from the French phrase “vin aigre,” meaning sour wine. It is a highly acidic cooking liquid that has been used for centuries to flavor, pickle and preserve.
Vinegar is a cooking liquid and flavoring agent with a tangy, sour taste which is generally made from grapes, grains, sugar or spirits. It gets its flavor profile from its high concentration of acetic acid, a solution obtained by fermenting alcohol or sugars. It is used to flavor dishes — often to add a brightness or a “punchy” flavor to whatever you are making — and as a preserving and pickling agent to keep foods fresh.
The Science of Vinegar as a Cooking Agent
What does vinegar do as a cooking agent? First and foremost, it is used to flavor. Depending on the variety, vinegar can bring a sour, tangy, sweet, mild, malty, woody or even buttery flavor to your dish. It can also be used to color or discolor foods. Because of its unique ability to break down proteins, vinegar is also used as a marinade to help tenderize meats and veggies. It is also used to “quick pickle” veggies because it helps to speed up fermentation and creates good bacteria that makes food last longer.
The Basics of Cooking with Vinegar
- Know Your Types — As previously mentioned, vinegar comes in many varieties, each of which has its own unique flavor profile. Try them plain or as a base for flavored vinegars to dress up all sorts of foods. The most popular types of vinegar to keep in your pantry include:
- Balsamic. The crème de la crème of vinegars, balsamic vinegar is the cherry-colored liquid often seen drizzled across summer veggies. It is a grape-based vinegar which is known for its sweet, bold, decadent and rich flavor profile. Try our RAPTURE Balsamic Vinegar — a lovingly crafted zinfandel vinegar made from California grapes and Triple Crown blackberries — to see what this kind of vinegar is all about.
FAQs
Depending on the variety, vinegar can bring a sour, tangy, sweet, mild, malty, woody or even buttery flavor to your dish. It can also be used to color or discolor foods. Because of its unique ability to break down proteins, vinegar is also used as a marinade to help tenderize meats and veggies.
What does vinegar do for cooking? ›
The acidity or sourness of vinegar brightens the flavor of food and adds balance to a rich dish. It is found in popular kitchen staples like salad dressings, marinades, sauces, mayonnaise, and ketchup. Vinegar can change the texture of foods.
Is it OK to cook with cleaning vinegar? ›
You should absolutely never cook with or consume cleaning vinegar. Most cleaning vinegar has a warning label on the packaging. Unlike cooking vinegar, it may not be tested for impurities that can be dangerous to the human body.
What balances out vinegar in cooking? ›
For more pronounced sour balance issues, try honey, sugar, or cream and if all that fails a pinch of bicarbonate of soda will bring some alkaline to the dish to neutralise the acidity. For dishes that are a bit too tart, use sugar, honey or maple syrup to tone down the flavour.
What is the most useful vinegar for cooking? ›
Distilled White Vinegar
This kind of vinegar is one of the most versatile. There are several culinary uses for white vinegar's intense, sharp flavor. An ingredient in ketchup, white vinegar is also used for hard-boiling eggs and to make mashed potatoes stay a bright white shade.
Is distilled vinegar the same as white vinegar? ›
Now, don't confuse distilled with basic white vinegar, which is stronger and has up to 25% acetic acid. That vinegar is sold exclusively for cleaning purposes and is not a good idea to ingest. However, beyond cooking, distilled white vinegar can be used for many of the same household chores.
Can white vinegar reduce belly fat? ›
The study also indicated that vinegar stimulates fatty acid oxidation (burning), which occurs as a response to improved gut bacteria influencing how your body burns and stores fat. According to research, acetic acid regulates fat metabolism by increasing the rate your body burns fat while also decreasing fat storage.
What does vinegar do to your body? ›
Vinegar is good for lowering blood glucose levels, helping with weight loss and boosting skin health. It also has antibacterial properties. Today, more and more people are discovering its health benefits and using it as a go-to remedy for everything from minor ailments to chronic diseases.
Can I use cooking vinegar for laundry? ›
Add 1 cup of vinegar to a gallon of hot water, add white clothing so it is fully submerged, and soak overnight. Run the clothing through the appropriate wash cycle with laundry detergent as usual. You can also add vinegar to the rinse cycle to help reduce detergent buildup that can dull clothes.
What's the difference between pickling vinegar and white vinegar? ›
Picking vinegar is any vinegar used for pickling where food is preserved by acid. The base for pickling vinegars is often white vinegar but it can also be cider vinegar, malt vinegar, or wine vinegar. These vinegars vary in flavour and acidity to allow you to subtly alter the taste of your pickles.
The only difference between cleaning vinegar and the distilled white vinegar is their levels of acidity. White vinegar is usually 95 percent water and 5 percent acid. By contrast, cleaning vinegar contains up to six percent acid and is around 20 percent stronger than regular white vinegar.
What happens if you put too much vinegar in food? ›
If too much vinegar is added to a recipe, it can make the dish overly sour and unbalanced in flavor. This can also make the texture of the dish unappetizing.
What happens when you cook with vinegar? ›
What does vinegar do as a cooking agent? First and foremost, it is used to flavor. Depending on the variety, vinegar can bring a sour, tangy, sweet, mild, malty, woody or even buttery flavor to your dish. It can also be used to color or discolor foods.
What happens if you heat up vinegar? ›
However, when you boil vinegar, the water element is boiled off, and the acetic acid is left in a more concentrated volume. When vinegar is boiled, the concentration of acetic acid vapours can reach unsafe levels. Breathing in these vapours can cause irritation to the lungs, respiratory system, and eyes.
What are the benefits of adding vinegar? ›
Vinegar is good for lowering blood glucose levels, helping with weight loss and boosting skin health. It also has antibacterial properties. Today, more and more people are discovering its health benefits and using it as a go-to remedy for everything from minor ailments to chronic diseases.
Does vinegar make food taste better? ›
Whether you're looking for a sweet, savory, or tangy taste, you can boost flavor easily with the right vinegar. Formed through a fermentation process, not only does vinegar have the ability to add big flavor without adding fat or salt, but there are other health benefits, as well.
Why add vinegar at end of cooking? ›
Vinegar can add depth of flavour to soups, sauces, and stews. Especially great for tomato-based recipes, you can add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar towards the end of the cooking process to amplify the flavours of your other ingredients.
What does vinegar do to meat? ›
Balsamic vinegar is a good marinade for red meats because it helps to tenderize them. The acid in the vinegar helps to break down some of the protein and fat in the beef, which makes it softer. The balsamic vinegar also adds a sweet flavor while tenderizing, without having to add any sugar.
