steeping herbs and spices in them, and why
vinegar can help remove greasy films from
various surfaces.
Food Words: Vinegar, Acid, Acetic
Though it doesn’t look or sound related,
the word vinegar comes from the same
root as both acid and acetic: the Indo-
European ak-, meaning “sharp.” (The aigre
i n vinaigre was originally the Latin
acer.)Edge, acute, acrid, ester, andoxygen
are related words, oxygen because its
presence was once thought necessary to
make an acid.The Acetic Fermentation
It takes three ingredients to make vinegar: an
alcoholic liquid, oxygen, and bacteria of the
genus Acetobacter or Gluconobacter, mainly
A. pasteurianus and A. aceti. These bacteria
are among the few microbes that are able to