Making Flavored Vinegar

Listen to the article

Making flavored vinegars has become popular for gift-giving and personal enjoyment.

You can add herbs, mixture of herbs, spices, fruits or vegetables to a vinegar. The vinegar that you use will depend on what is added to it, whether it be apple cider, distilled white, wine or a combination. Apple cider compliments fruits, white distilled goes well with delicate herbs and wine with stronger herbs such as garlic and tarragon.

Other suggestions include:

• Use 3 to 4 sprigs of fresh herbs to each pint of vinegar being certain to completely immerse the herbs.
• Dried herbs may also be used. It takes 3 tablespoons of dried herbs to each pint of vinegar. Let the vinegar stand 3 to 4 weeks, strain through damp cheesecloth and discard herbs.
• In most cases it takes 3 to 4 weeks for flavors to develop. Let the container stand, tightly capped, in a cool dark place. Use within 3 to 4 months.
• Flavors in foods that work well in vinegar include lemon or orange peel, especially with mint, cinnamon and cloves; garlic cloves, jalapeno pepper and citrus peel which can be treated for ease on bamboo skewers.
• To speed the process by a week or so, crumble or bruise the herbs and fruits. When the vinegar has reached the desired flavor, strain and return vinegar to clean containers. A sprig of fresh herbs can be added for decoration and identification.
• If flavors become too strong, flavored vinegars may be diluted with more of the same basic vinegar.

Source: Making Flavored Vinegars, Heinz

• For flavored vinegar recipes write to:

Making Flavored Vinegars

c/o Heinz USA
P.O. Box 57
Pittsburg, PA 15230-90057

Lori Wuellner, LWuellne@oznet.ksu.edu
County Extension Agent, Family and Consumer Services
Wyandotte County, Kansas
Kansas State University Research and Extension