Have been cleaning out the pantry and have come across various unopened
bottles of red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar.

I know that oils become rancid with time and should be used quickly ... but
what about vinegar ? Does anyone have any ideas on this.

All responses will be much appreciated.

They last forever, due to the acidity. They may develop sediment,
which is just mother of vinegar, and harmless.

Dianna


On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 04:01:46 GMT, "amber" > wrote:

>Have been cleaning out the pantry and have come across various unopened
>bottles of red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar.
>
>I know that oils become rancid with time and should be used quickly ... but
>what about vinegar ? Does anyone have any ideas on this.
>
>All responses will be much appreciated.
>

_______________________________________________
To reply, please remove "fluff" from my address.

amber wrote:

> Have been cleaning out the pantry and have come across various unopened
> bottles of red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar.
>
> I know that oils become rancid with time and should be used quickly ... but
> what about vinegar ? Does anyone have any ideas on this.
>
> All responses will be much appreciated.

They don't become rancid. They will lose flavor and acidity over time,
but it's a long time. Vinegar doesn't spoil, as such.

Pastorio

Bob (this one) wrote:

> amber wrote:
>
>> Have been cleaning out the pantry and have come across various unopened
>> bottles of red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar....

> They don't become rancid. They will lose flavor and acidity over time,
> but it's a long time.

Not true balsamic vinegar... aging is *good* for it. The most valued
are over 100 years old, I understand. Of course, that's cask-aging, not
bottle-aging.

B/

"Bob (this one)" > wrote in message
...
>
> They don't become rancid. They will lose flavor and acidity over time, but
> it's a long time. Vinegar doesn't spoil, as such.
>
> Pastorio

Which reminds me about something odd that happened recently. I had some
balsamic vinegar I'd decanted into a pouring bottle that developed a mother.
I set it aside with the idea of using the mother to make some red wine
vinegar and promptly forgot about it. I came across it a few weeks ago and
there was a layer of mold across the top.

The mother had gotten big enough that the top of it was no longer covered
with liquid. Is the mother not as acidic as the rest of the vinegar? Or
did my vinegar get contaminated with something that allowed mold to grow?
Or does balsamic vinegar (at least the cheapo grocery store stuff like this)
contain enough extra ingredients that mold can form?

Anny

Anny Middon wrote:
> "Bob (this one)" > wrote
>
>>They don't become rancid. They will lose flavor and acidity over time, but
>>it's a long time. Vinegar doesn't spoil, as such.
>>
>>Pastorio
>
> Which reminds me about something odd that happened recently. I had some
> balsamic vinegar I'd decanted into a pouring bottle that developed a mother.
> I set it aside with the idea of using the mother to make some red wine
> vinegar and promptly forgot about it. I came across it a few weeks ago and
> there was a layer of mold across the top.
>
> The mother had gotten big enough that the top of it was no longer covered
> with liquid. Is the mother not as acidic as the rest of the vinegar? Or
> did my vinegar get contaminated with something that allowed mold to grow?
> Or does balsamic vinegar (at least the cheapo grocery store stuff like this)
> contain enough extra ingredients that mold can form?

It wasn't mother. It was mold. Commercial balsamic doesn't have a high
enough sugar content for it to act as a preservative, but it can have
enough to support molds.

A true mother is a colony of acetobacters. This wasn't that.

Pastorio

Brian Mailman wrote:
> Bob (this one) wrote:
>
>> amber wrote:
>>
>>> Have been cleaning out the pantry and have come across various
>>> unopened bottles of red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar....
>
>> They don't become rancid. They will lose flavor and acidity over time,
>> but it's a long time.
>
> Not true balsamic vinegar... aging is *good* for it. The most valued
> are over 100 years old, I understand. Of course, that's cask-aging, not
> bottle-aging.

It is true. Balsamic vinegar isn't made and then dumped into one barrel
forever. It's topped up as it ages, adding a new infusion of acetic
acid, sugars, etc. each time. Barrel-aging permits evaporation through
the wooden walls thus concentrating the flavoring agents and reducing
the volume. Leaving it in a bottle stops any beneficial aging processes.
Over time, the acetic acid breaks down to other compounds and that
affects other flavoring agents as well. The balance of flavors changes
until it becomes bland.

I tasted some "Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale" in Modena that were
ostensibly more than a century old. They were essentially syrups, having
so concentrated over that time that they poured thickly. They didn't
have a vinegary spirit. They were wonderful for sipping, smooth and very
complex. No one cooks with that stuff. At most, they'll trickle a few
drops over a finished dish. And, in truth, that's all one needs. The
flavors are so dense and rich that drops of it are more than enough. I
bought a bottle (3 ounces) for $90, and the only reason it was that
cheap was because I spoke Italian with the bottler. Took three years to
use it all.

Pastorio

I've had homemade apple vinegar develope a solid plug in the neck over
time in the cold room downstairs. No idea what it's composition, but it
was a very tough consistency.

--
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William R. Watt wrote:

> I've had homemade apple vinegar develope a solid plug in the neck over
> time in the cold room downstairs. No idea what it's composition, but it
> was a very tough consistency.

Rubbery? Likely a mother. Most commercial vinegars are pasteurized so
they don't do that and scare off consumers. Homemade ones aren't usually
pasteurized.

Pastorio

"Bob (this one)" > wrote in message
...
>
> It wasn't mother. It was mold. Commercial balsamic doesn't have a high
> enough sugar content for it to act as a preservative, but it can have
> enough to support molds.
>
> A true mother is a colony of acetobacters. This wasn't that.
>
Thanks. Bob.

Actually, I think it was both. First I got the mother -- a glob of
transparent stuff the color of the vinegar. Then later I got the gray
opaque stuff that was the mold.

Or was the transparent stuff mold?

Anny

Anny Middon wrote:
> "Bob (this one)" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>It wasn't mother. It was mold. Commercial balsamic doesn't have a high
>>enough sugar content for it to act as a preservative, but it can have
>>enough to support molds.
>>
>>A true mother is a colony of acetobacters. This wasn't that.
>>
> Thanks. Bob.
>
> Actually, I think it was both. First I got the mother -- a glob of
> transparent stuff the color of the vinegar. Then later I got the gray
> opaque stuff that was the mold.
>
> Or was the transparent stuff mold?

Like the doctors say, "It's difficult to tell (removes eyeglasses for
added sincerity) without examining the patient..."

Pastorio

Bob (this one) wrote:

> Anny Middon wrote:
>> "Bob (this one)" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>>It wasn't mother. It was mold. Commercial balsamic doesn't have a high
>>>enough sugar content for it to act as a preservative, but it can have
>>>enough to support molds.
>>>
>>>A true mother is a colony of acetobacters. This wasn't that.
>>>
>> Thanks. Bob.
>>
>> Actually, I think it was both. First I got the mother -- a glob of
>> transparent stuff the color of the vinegar. Then later I got the gray
>> opaque stuff that was the mold.
>>
>> Or was the transparent stuff mold?
>
> Like the doctors say, "It's difficult to tell (removes eyeglasses for
> added sincerity) without examining the patient..."

The "glob of transparent stuff" sounds like it might vinegar mother--the
one way to tell would be take some of it and drop it in some leftover
wine and see if it vinegarizes in a few weeks.

B/