What in the world happened to my vinegar????
I just pulled my Spectrum brand organic red wine vinegar and there was a solid white crust about 1/4 inch thick on the top and stringy sediment on the bottom. I thought vinegar didn't go bad? No where on the bottle does it say to refrigerate it. I don't have a sales receipt, but I want to take it back to Whole Foods. This is insane!
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hohokam
Oct 8, 2008 03:14 PM
Sounds like it might just be vinegar "mother", in which case you don't have anything to worry about.
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re: Magnificat2005
It's not mold, it's bacteria, and perfectly harmless. From Spectrum's website:
The milky strands and translucent shapes you find in our Red and White Wine Vinegars (or any of our other unpasteurized vinegars) is called "The Mother" of vinegar. Granted, this may be an overly poetic term, but it is perfectly safe and is in fact a sign of a genuine, unpasteurized, naturally-processed vinegar.
"The Mother" (so-called because it actually creates the vinegar) is actually made up of the harmless vinegar bacteria called "Acetobactor." This is what turns the juice, cider or wine into vinegar. "The Mother" has enjoyed a prevalent folkloric past and unfiltered vinegars are thought to be particularly beneficial to the digestive system.
Refrigerating vinegar will slow or stop the formation of "The Mother."
Strain it out if it bothers you, and next time don't buy unprocessed organic vinegar.
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re: dockhl
Just be sure to add red wine to a red wine mother. You can add white or other wine to it but it gets a kinda "muddy" taste. Keep adding red wine and letting it age and you'll develop your own house red wine vinegar! Oh and keep it in a dark place. Now go out and get an organic white wine vinegar and start another one! And umm, if you drink a lot of wine and have leftovers, you may have to get a couple of small barrels.... or small bottles and give it away.... it's sort of like those guppies you had as a kid- eventually you have gallon jars of guppies everywhere!
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