What's your favourite vinegar?

[moomies]

What's your favourite vinegar and what do you use it for?

I often use rice vinegar for making sushi rice and other Japanese dishes. I like apple cider vinegar but not quite sure what it's good for. Hubby like s balsamic vinegar. I don't know what you call it but you dip bread in balsamic vinegar mixed with olive oil? He likes that.

I found this article on fruit vinegars, they sound very fragrant and flavourful. Definitely want to try some of them.

Fruit vinegars
Sweet condiments are the newest craze.
By Gabrielle Bright, The Canadian Living Test Kitchen


One of the hottest food trends this spring is sweet condiments. Professional and home chefs alike are using more ingredients and convenience products (such as barbecue sauces, jams and vinegars) enhanced with fruit, honey and maple syrup as building blocks for great cooking. As a result, an onslaught of fruit vinegars (such as pear, passionfruit and pomegranate-champagne) and balsamic vinegars (such as fig and raspberry) are lining the shelves of both grocery and specialty stores as consumers realize how great these products are for finishing sauces, tossing with greens or basting grilled meats.

Last week, the Test Kitchen tasted nine vinegars with our friends from the Qualifirst Group (or Epicureal.com). After tasting balsamic fig and hibiscus vinegar, we have relegated plain white vinegar to cleaning windows and cutlery. Here are some tasting notes.

Balsamic with Fig & Lemon (California Harvest): The rich flavours of figs and balsamic vinegar combine beautifully in this dense, sweet vinegar. Use it to dress grilled fruits or vegetables, chicken, fish or hardy greens.

Cider Vinegar (Vilex): Made from Normandy apples, this round, full-flavoured cider vinegar has a slight savoury quality and enough body for bitter greens.

Pear Vinegar (Vilex): Mild with a subtle, clean pear flavour, this is perfect for drizzling over delicate baby spinach.

Pomegranate Champagne Vinegar (California Harvest): Wow! Made from Champagne vinegar and concentrated pomegranate juice, this vinegar is intensely fruity and almost drinkable. Its full sweet-tangy flavour makes a great addition to sauces or glazes.

Raspberry Red Wine Vinegar (Vilex): Macerated French raspberries give this wonderful tangy vinegar a long, berry finish. Toss with fresh spinach or fruit salads.

Hibiscus Vinegar: This is a luscious, ruby red balsamic vinegar naturally flavoured with hibiscus flowers. Drizzle over fruit, roasted beets or delicate greens.

Yikes!
Tasting a flight of nine vinegars was fun and a great way to notice subtle differences in flavours. However, we all felt quite parched later and so don't recommend tasting more than three at a time.

http://www.canadianliving.com/Canadi...34290&idSM=324

[SVZ]

What's Vilex?

[pacific breeze]

I like all kinds of vinegar but I guess good balsamic would be my fave, closely followed by apple cider (organic) and a good red wine vinegar. I made blackberry/raspberry vinegar one year and that was good, too.

[moomies]

Oh that's really cool PB. Is it difficult to make homemade vinegar? I had some blackberries I bought that I forgot all about in the fridge...found them with some mold today

[Zee]

Use champagne vingegar to make salad dressings with a little bit of walnut oil. It's delicious.

Second favorite is balsamic vinegar. Can't imagine having a vinegar tasting.

[moomies]

What's Vilex?

I think it's the brand/company's name.

[SVZ]

sounds..........vile

[pacific breeze]

I've been picking blackberries lately, and I still have some in the freezer from last year so maybe I'll do it again. I'll post the recipe in the recipe forum.

[Tati]

I loooooove a nice balsamic, followed by apple cider vinegar. And malt vinegar is great with fish and chips.

I just picked up a fig-balsamic vinaigrette the other day, and it's delicious - very good ingredients, no added sugar so it's nice and tart.

[Pandora]

Apple or balsamic.

I LOVE drinking vinegar with salt and oil from the salad bowl, after the salad's gone.