~ Mother of Vinegar ~

Leslie over at ~ http://comfreycottages.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-homemade-vinegar-and-mothers.html ~ blogged about making vinegar last week. I accidentally made red wine vinegar a couple of years ago. I made a few batches of wine from some grapes a friend had given me , the first few batches of wine did well , but the last gallon fermented into vinegar. The pic above shows the " Mother " that developed , the vinegar was very strong tasting but has mellowed out over time. I've been thinking about it and believe it may have fermented to vinegar for two reasons , sugar content and letting it work to long. I was making what is called " Prison Wine " ( LOL) , very cheap and easy to make , you add 6 cups of sugar to a gallon jar , fill with grapes and add water. You can google prison wine if you're interested in the details of making it. After the first few batches , I decided I would try to make it with less sugar. I don't like a sweet wine , so I added 5 cups to 1 gallon and 4 cups to another. The last gallon with 4 cups is the one that fermented to vinegar , the gallon with 5 cups of sugar did wonderful. I didn't add any yeast to my wine or mother starter to the gallon that turned to vinegar. The last two gallons did ferment longer than it should have , so that and the sugar level probably caused it to develop a "Mother". At the time I had never heard tell of a vinegar "Mother " , but I did a google search to see if wine would become vinegar , since it smelled just like vinegar. I found a wealth of information , including all the health benefits from vinegar. I also found out that vinegar was known as a natural by product of wine , the name is derived from the french word " vin aigre " meaning sour wine (LOL) . Who would have thought sour wine would be so good for you , so I've been using the vinegar and it taste great now that it has aged some. I hope to make some different kinds of vinegars from the " Mother of Vinegar " , she's not very pretty and actually slimy , but she's waiting to help me make more vinegar. The link below tells you how you make red wine vinegar and some of the health benefits it has.

http://www.benefits-of-resveratrol.com/making-red-wine-vinegar.html

More Information can be found here ........ http://www.answers.com/topic/vinegar and if you want to make apple cider vinegar , here's a link that tells you how ....... http://www.apple-cider-vinegar-benefits.com/vinegar-making.html.

~ Natural Blessings ~

JoyceAnn