Making and flavouring Vinegars

Mothering (more) things in jars and reading pH levels

I started 2024 with a plan. A vinegar plan. I’ve probably bored you to tears by now with my intentions to grow, forage and preserve as much as I can this year from my new home in France. In the meantime, I felt like I needed something to keep me busy.

I continue to swot up on traditional French cuisine and I’ve been reading about classic menus. Consuming a light salad with vinaigrette at the meal's start is still common in restaurants and at home. It’s also not exclusive to France these days. It’s believed to aid digestion as the acidity in the vinaigrette can stimulate the production of digestive enzymes and prepare the stomach for the heavier courses to follow. A fresh salad can also act as a palate cleanser, clearing the taste buds and refreshing the mouth before moving on to richer and more complex flavours in later courses.

That was a long-winded way of explaining why I’m interested in making and infusing vinegar… Come Summer, we’ll hopefully be eating a lot of salad every day. It’ll be too hot to consume much else I’d imagine. For salads you need vinaigrettes. For vinaigrettes, you need a vinegar base. Et voilà. Plus, tinkering around with different infusions is cool.

So, on Monday, I started what I hope will eventually be my very first vinegar. I washed and chopped three apples, placed them in a sterile jar and topped it up with water. I fixed some muslin over the top of the jar with a rubber band, allowing the contents to breathe while preventing anything else from entering the jar. It’s now just a waiting game. Perhaps 20-30 days initially and then perhaps the same for the vinegar to mature with the apple removed. You can add sugar to speed up the process but I’m a proud member of the Slow Club. Besides, apples are high in fructose so they shouldn’t need any encouragement. I’ll let you know how I get on in the coming weeks.

My most successful vinegar has been elderflower vinegar from last year (2023). This is so good and so versatile. I’ve used it in numerous salads, drizzled it on steaming new potatoes, added it to marinades… Elderflower cordial feels like the go-to when it’s in season but I would encourage anyone to give the vinegar a go. It’s also much easier to produce.

Here are a few of the infused vinegars I have on the go at the moment. I didn’t make the vinegar base myself for these testers. Instead, I used good-quality, unpasteurised cider vinegar from my local bio shop.

Blood orange (slices dehydrated in the oven) and black pepper. When we arrived at our new home here in France, there was an old vinaigrette d’orange left on the kitchen counter. It was swiftly binned - well out of date and rancid - but the orange infusion stuck in my mind and this will be my homage. With blood oranges in season at the moment, I thought I’d give it a go. I had a little taste earlier and it was well on its way. I can imagine using it to dress a raw fennel salad.

Bay leaves and black pepper. Maybe I’ve just ripped off a Jo Malone candle with this one. Bay and black pepper combined may well produce an overwhelming flavour, but I could be wrong. There are ways to balance bitter or strong flavours. I’ll report back. I used bay because there is an abundance of it in the woodland behind my house. I wanted to make use of the branches I had to cut back. It’s very invasive!

I made Mark Diacono’s Seville Orange Bitters a couple of weeks ago for my partner who is the cocktail and beverages manager in our household (I am the catering manager). I decided to try this orange and spice combination in a vinegar format, too. I have higher hopes for this one.

I’m trying these infusions in small quantities because they could taste utterly revolting. As Gennaro Gattuso iconically once said in a press conference, “Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit.” I love tinkering and I have the patience to wait for results but maaaaan, I’m so bad at writing down quantities and methods. I need to be better at this.

I have other ideas that I’m going to be testing in the coming weeks. I’ve been keeping an eye on some new pine growths nearby. Until then, I’ll try not to get told off for cluttering the kitchen shelves with my testers.

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Do you make or infuse vinegar? Are you interested in learning more about the process and ideas? Are you interested in sharing ideas or collaborating? Please let me know!