Have you cleaned out your pantry yet? After the holiday rush has faded away, make some time to do a pantry clean out. Toss out old and outdated ingredients , replenish and invest in a few new essentials to perk up your meals. With just a splash of a well chosen vinegar you can instantly balance out flavors and add a new layer of yumminess.
Vinegar adds sweet, tart and tangy flavors to dishes. As part of a kitchen pharmacy, raw unfiltered, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar aids in digestion, helps relieve acid re-flux, stomach upset, alkalizes and assists the body in detoxifying. Vinegar has been used for thousands of years .
Vinegar is typically made from a soured or fermented sugar containing liquid. Sometimes vinegar starts out as wine, cider or beer, but can be made from rice, plums or coconut tree sap too. Traditionally whatever was available and abundant locally was turned into vinegar.
In the kitchen vinegar adds tang, acidity to balance out other flavors, (fats), aids in cooking of beans and legumes, tenderizes, is used in marinades, dressings and imparts a pop of bright flavor to dishes.
There are a wide variety of flavored vinegar’s that pair nicely with sweet and savory dishes. Try a drizzle of reduced fig vinegar on top of vanilla bean ice cream or coconut yogurt with fresh berries and grilled figs…divine.
Here are my top vinegar must haves –
- Raw, unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar- adds a mellow flavor , well balanced .
- Rice Vinegar– lighter and sweeter in flavor, great for Asian inspired dishes
- Red wine vinegar– sharper tangy flavor
- Aged Balsamic Vinegar– made from unfermented pressed grapes, sweet and savory, can be reduced into a thick and syrupy glaze.
- Umeboshi Vinegar– Salty, sour and sweet, alkalizing, high in citric acid, aids in relieving acid indigestion, made from pickled plums. A little goes a long way.
- Coconut Vinegar- sweet and very mild, made from the sap of the coconut tree
Go ahead and pick up a new vinegar to add to your pantry, experiment with some new flavor combinations or try substituting your regular vinegar of choice for something different.