One of the questions I was asked recently is whether vinegars are interchangeable–for example, if you don’t have the specific kind called for in a recipe. My answer was “it depends on the recipe.”
I know, how’s that for a specific answer LOL. If it’s being used as an acid in a recipe that already has a lot of other flavors going on, it really won’t matter. However they do taste different, so if you are making an oil and vinegar dressing, for example, you can substitute whatever vinegar you have on hand as long as you like the flavor.
One of my favorite things to do with herbs is to make flavored vinegar. I take a nice mellow vinegar such as white wine, shove a bunch of chive blossoms in a bottle, fill with vinegar, and in a couple of days voila!
The other thing to take into consideration is whether you are canning with it, because different vinegars have different acidity levels. You’ll want to make sure you choose one with the same or more acidity. Here’s, on blossombucket.com, a handy chart of vinegars and their common uses.
What are your favorite vinegars?
This post shared at Works for Me Wednesday, Kitchen Tip Tuesdays
I like rice vinegar for salads. I’m not really a big balsamic fan. For recipes, I often use red wine vinegar. For canning, white vinegar, the cheapest kind, is fine.
I am not a purist regarding the use of vinegars. I use organic apple cider for almost everything, though we love balsamic. Some of the other vinegars are so pricey that I find it hard to buy them and then I don’t have them when a recipe calls for it.
I usually just flex and add the AC vinegar and everything usually turns out just fine :-).
I love vinegar. Do not think I have met one yet that I do not like. Balsamic is always in my pantry. Thanks for the great link.
I love vinegar but i only use organic apple cider vinegar “with the mother”. I like Bragg’s http://bragg.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1. It makes a hugh difference in the taste of food. I only use the non-organic for cleaning around the house.
Like Adrienne, I most often depend on apple cider, probably because that’s “what I’m used to,” what my mom always used at home. Not exclusively — I do like balsamic, and a mild white wine variety is nice to have on hand. Budget and available space dictate against one-of-everything selection, but wouldn’t that be fun “if only”?
A note on balsamic — currently researching strawberry recipes, and those two ingredients seem to have a natural affinity. Here’s one for ya’! One source suggested a super-easy way to offer strawberries: a big bowl of ripe strawberries, a dish of balsamic vinegar and one of powdered sugar; dip a berry in the vinegar, then in the sugar. (I’m thinking really sweet, ripe berrries wouldn’t even need the sugar.) Don’t knock it till I’ve tried it, I guess — I’ll be ‘sperimenting with all kinds of berry goodness this week. (Bad me, this means out-of-season, non-local berries, but photo schedules and such to make first-of-June publication do put some unwelcome conditions on producing ready-to-shoot food.)