Expert: Paul Wagner - 10/6/2008

Question
QUESTION: I found an old bottle of grocery variety balsamic vinegar. The contents have solidified about 80%. Whatever it is that has solidified, is that a mother culture?  Can I just add leftover wine to that glob? I've shaken the bottle thinking it was sediment, but the glob remains. If I want to use this 'glob', I'll have to pry it out of the bottle, since the bottle has a narrow neck with a bulbous base. What do you think?

ANSWER: Hi Patricia

It's possible that your bottle contains the culture of a vinegar mother...but it may not be a viable culture.  The only way to really tell is to try.  But many modern commercial wines are a bit too high in alcohol to really work well for vinegar.  The best is a wine with an alcohol content of around 10-11%, and most wines today are well over 13 or even 14%.  So you might have to add some water to the wine to dilute it.

It might be easier to check with a local wine shop to see if they sell vinegar kits...you can buy them on-line as well...and be SURE that what you are doing will work!

Paul Wagner

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the quick reply. Since I'm a newbie at this - how will I know whether or not it's viable.  You mention trying it...then what? Does that mean tasting it? Looking at it? Some kind of chemical test?  Sorry for my ignorance.

Answer
Hi Paticia

It's my fault, for not explaining better.  When I said you could try it, I meant that you could extract the mother from the vinegar bottle, and put it into another bottle.  Then add wine and see what happens--that's what I meant by trying.

If the resulting vinegar is good, you are in luck! If it smells bad, and has too much of a nail polish character, then I would throw it out.

Paul Wagner