Maggie Oster - Herbal Vinegar: Flavored Vinegars, Mustards, Chutneys, Preserves, Conserves, Salsas, Cosmetic Uses, Household Tips

Some of lifes most worthwhile lessons are learned in the simplest of ways. For example, my appreciation of vinegar came not from savoring rare, imported vinegars sprinkled on mche and radicchio in restaurants, but rather from my thrifty mother, who used the vinegar left from a jar of homemade pickles as a dressing on

just-picked, home-grown Bibb lettuce. And dont make fun until youve had my mothers salad dressing! Of course, the taste does vary, depending on the particular preserved food that just vacated the jar. Thats precisely why I learned at an early age to appreciate the nuances of flavors possible in vinegars.

Obviously, my family did not live frivolously, and store-bought vinegars consisted strictly of the distilled and cider varieties. Even with these, certain miracles were wrought on meats, vegetables, and fruits. My father made pickled tongue without peer, and leftover beets were no secondary fare when they made a return appearance in a vinegar sauce.

Only later in life, while haunting the aisles of Macys and Balduccis in New York, did I discover that vinegars could be made or flavored with all sorts of exotic ingredients, such as raspberry, tarragon, sherry, honey, rice, malt, and various wines, including champagne. The potential uses of vinegars in cooking multiplied before my eyes.

I bought, smelled, tasted, admired the colors, and considered the complexities and subtleties of the many vinegars I discovered. Then, I began learning how to use them in soups, marinades, even drinks. The piquant, tantalizing tastes added new flavor to salads, vegetables, main courses, and desserts. Pickles and relishes took on fresh personalities, too.

Although I have been involved in gardening much of my life, it was only some twenty years ago that I became interested in growing herbs. Eventually, I was growing hundreds of different ones. I read books about herbs and found all kinds of suggestions and recipes for herb vinegars. I started trying different combinations, using ideas from the books and developing my own.

How wonderful to discover that I could make so many vinegars at home. Purple basil, garlic chives, rose petal, fennel, chive blossom, and elder flower were just a few of the possibilities. Plus, there were blends of herbs and spices. The colors, too, were beautiful. Jars of homemade vinegar filled my shelves. Soon I was sharing vinegars with friends, giving them as gifts and making them for the local herb society to sell.

As my interest and curiosity grew, I read more and more about the history, types, and uses of vinegars. This book is the result of my research. Heres a summary of just what it offers you.

Chapter 1 presents a brief history of vinegar, from what is known about its ancient origins to its many varieties and uses through the centuries up to the present day. Next, in Chapter 2 theres a discussion of the many kinds of vinegars available in stores and by mail order, including a description of flavors and general suggestions for using the different varieties. Youll also find step-by-step directions for making wine vinegars at home and for flavoring store-bought vinegars with herbs, flowers, fruits, spices, and vegetables. Besides individual flavors, there are also recipes for combinations of ingredients. All of these homemade vinegars are very inexpensive and easy to make. Included are suggestions of ways to bottle your vinegars and decorate for gift-giving.

If youve always wanted to grow your own herbs for flavoring vinegars, Chapter 3 provides easily followed, concise information for growing the best vinegar herbs. Even if you dont have garden space, many of these herbs are readily grown in containers on a patio or deck, or even indoors.

No book about vinegar would be complete without a description of the many household, health, and beauty uses for this versatile liquid. Chapter 4 contains hundreds of recipes for using the inexpensive distilled or cider vinegars as well as specially scented ones. These will save you time and money (and will fascinate you as well). Whether for cleaning carpets, bottles, laundry, the shower, or your face, vinegar could be the solution for you.

The heart of this book is Part II, containing more than 175 recipes in which vinegar is an ingredient. Whether you already have a pantry shelf filled with dozens of vinegars or youre just getting interested, these recipes will help you discover the many opportunities for cooking with vinegar. Using vinegar in cooking often reduces calories and the amount of salt in foods while adding a bracing tang and penetrating complexity of flavor. Included are recipes for appetizers, main courses, soups, pastas, grains, dry beans, vegetables, dressings, marinades, sauces and salsas, mustards, ketchups, pickles, relishes, other preserved foods, jellies, jams, desserts, and candies. A comprehensive sources section lists mail-order suppliers of vinegars, vinegar-making kits, bottles, labels, and herb seeds and plants. Finally, theres a selected list that suggests further reading about vinegars, herb-growing, and cooking.

Ive always dearly loved eating, and I cant remember a time in my life when I didnt enjoy salads, pickles, and other foods flavored with vinegar. The past years in which I have made, used, doused, splashed, scrubbed, and endlessly experimented with vinegar have been a marvelous period of fascination and discovery. I sincerely hope that, with this book, I can share with you at least some of my own enthusiasm for the many possibilities of vinegar.

The origin of vinegar is one of those fortunate happenstances never specifically noted in any historical record. Among the oldest of foods and medicine known to humans, its discovery most likely occurred sometime about ten thousand years ago, concurrent with the advent of wine, since vinegar is the natural next step after alcoholic fermentation. California winemaker August Sebastiani has been quoted as saying, God is trying to make vinegar. It is the winemakers job to stay his hand. In the centuries before wine production was perfected, much of the wine inevitably became vinegar. In fact, the French wine port of Orlans became known for its vinegar in the fourteenth century because of the frequency of this occurrence.

The earliest written references acknowledge wine and vinegar made from dates being commonplace as a medicine in Babylonia, circa 5,000 b.c. Grapes, figs, and other Mediterranean fruits also provided the fermentable substances from which various vinegars were made. There is evidence of Aryan and other nomadic tribes in northern Europe and Asia utilizing apples to make a soured fermented drink. Over the next several thousand years, vinegars use spread through the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and, hence, to the rest of the Western world.

Along the way a variety of applications evolved for this remarkable liquid, and vinegar soon became indispensable as a means of enhancing the flavor of foods and as preservative for them as well as a curative and cosmetic. Before the advent of modern technology, vinegar, in addition to salt brine, was a major way of preserving food. The acidic nature of vinegar slows down the growth of harmful bacteria in foods.