Vinegar can be made from plants like apples, grapes, and barley that are then fermented and distilled into wine. Vinegar is made by further fermenting the wine, beer or malt. As a result, Vinegar has different variations, although all are a result of fermenting ethanol into acetic acid. Quite simply, vinegar is a derivative of wine, therefore its status will depend on whether the wine used in making it was vegan or not.

Some vegan versions of vinegar like Balsamic vinegar are produced by fermenting grape juice for a number of years and letting it form naturally which is what most people prefer given that additives may not be healthy options. In this case, nothing is removed or added until the end of the aging period which can go up to 12 years.

Here is a short video on how balsamic vinegar is made:

 

Apple Cider Vinegar is another example of vegan vinegar made through a detailed fermentation process which breaks its sugar into alcohol and finally into vinegar.

 

Vinegar has a number of uses like adding flavor to food and white vinegar is a perfect environmentally friendly disinfectant used for cleaning kitchen, laundry, and sinks.

 

The Vegan Vinegar

The vegan vinegar is usually made of simple alcohol and then infused by herbs and fruits for flavor.

Considering that Vinegar is a wine that has been fermented for a long time, some vinegar may have gone through the fining process in which gelatine and other animal extracts are used in fining wine. Vinegar is made from wines and beers that have already been fined by isinglass and gelatine. This makes such vinegar non-vegan.

You can always make your own vinegar at home and be sure it is 100 % vegan. Here is how to do it:

 

And here is a simple Green beans recipe with vinegar as an ingredient.

 

How do you use your vinegar?