pickles, salad dressings, and mustards.
Distilled Vinegars Distilled vinegar in the
United States is white vinegar made with
distilled alcohol; in the United Kingdom, it’s
vinegar that is made by acetic fermentation of
unhopped beer, and then distilled to
concentrate the acetic acid.
Vinegar Strength When developing and
following recipes in which vinegar is a
prominent ingredient, cooks should take care
to note not only the kind of vinegar, but also
the strength, which is usually indicated on the
label. In the United States, most industrially
produced vinegars are adjusted to 5% acetic
acid, but many wine vinegars are 7% or even
stronger. Mild Japanese rice vinegars, by
contrast, may be 4% (the U.S. minimum),
black Chinese vinegars as little as 2%. A
spoonful may thus provide half as much acetic
acid as expected, or twice as much, depending
on the vinegars that are called for and actually