Vinegar Pot who has one ?

[Frederick]

I have been told that I should not have thrown out a dodgy bottle of wine........it should have gone into the vinegar pot .....never heard of such a thing ......are these common in a French kitchen .....do people actually make their  own vine vinegar ?

[Pierre ZFP]

Yes they (we) really do make our own vinegar.  It's dead easy really, what you need is a ceramic glazed jar (NOT plastic or metal) and a vinegar mother. The venegar mother is just a lump of yeast the colour and consistency of liver which has the magic property of converting alcohol to aldehyde then oxygen from the air turns this to vinegar.  The only way I know to get started is to get a piece of vinegar mother from an existing one.  Sorry but I don't know how to do it from scratch.  After that just chuck in any old bits of dodgey or left over wine (what am I saying???).

[Clair]

Very common indeed... My sister gave me a bottle of her home-made vinegar when she came over at Easter.

Any left-over wine goes into the vinaigrier and they're commonly sold in most Gamm Vert.

[Pierre ZFP]

Oooo that's posh - mine's just a ceramic jar with a big cork in the top - no tap!  I use a ladle to get the vinegar out.

[Clair]

I've googled for a starter recipe:

Mère de vinaigre

Faire son vinaigre

[Frederick]

Thanks folkes !   got to do this now ....