When the guests left New Year's brunch on Tuesday and I began cleaning up, I found half a bottle of Champagne left on the counter. Exhausted and ready to put my feet up, the bottle went into the refrigerator and was soon forgotten. Now, with half a flat bottle on my hands, I've started brainstorming uses for it in cooking or baking. But you know what idea I like best? Doing almost nothing...
...and making vinegar. Making vinegar from leftover wine, Champagne, or sparkling wine is unbelievably easy. Simply pour the liquid into a well-washed mason jar (or other wide-mouthed vessel like a crock) and cover with a couple of layers of cheesecloth (to prevent dust or bugs from getting into it. Then, just store it in a cool, dark place for a month to six months. Taste it periodically to determine when it has turned to vinegar then transfer it to a bottle with a stopper and store in the pantry.
Voila! Champagne (or wine) vinegar that you'd pay a lot for at the store made easily from leftovers that could have gone to waste!
Have you made your own wine vinegar before? Please share your stories and secrets below!
Related: What Can I Do with Leftover Champagne?
(Image: Flickr member jo.marshall, licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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"Exhausted and ready to put my feet up, I reclined on the couch and drank it."
My husband has been making red wine vinegar for 35 years. He started with a vinegar 'mother' he got at a wine/beer making supply store. We usually have about half a glass of wine left in the bottle and he adds it to the jug. We have two gallon jugs going in the closet. Makes great gifts as well as the best wine vinegar around.
I got my original vinegar mother from a farmwife friend in France. The general rule of thumb is that you add the same amount of wine as existing vinegar (with mother) and wait 2 weeks (quinze jours). Vinegar.
Around that time I was also make pineapple vinegar from a recipe in one of Diana Kennedy's books. Basic method is that you drop the core and skin/top cuttings from two small or one large organic pineapple along with a handful of pilloncillo or organic sugar into a several liter jar filled with spring (or filtered) water. Cover with cheese cloth and let sit in the direct sun for 2 or 3 months.
What happens is that you not only make pineapple vinegar, but you will also develop a gelatinous cylinder at the top of the jar which turns out to be a homemade mother that you can use for making other vinegars. The mother will most likely be peppered with fruit flies so wash those out and leach out the pineapple flavor by soaking the mother in white wine for 24 hours. From there you can proceed as above for making red, white, or champagne vinegar.
The organic pineapple peelings can be substituted by organic apple cores and peelings. Why organic? Because there will be no chemicals to inhibit fermentation. The process is a bit messy (fruit flies, etc) but in the end worth it. Homemade vinegar? No comparison to commercial. None.
LOL, made me chuckle.
I've heard of leftover Champagne, but never actually experienced it ;-)
I've been wanting to make homemade vinegar for some time. Thanks for the inspiration!
Great idea - thanks for the instructions!
For future reference, you can put a metal spoon in the bottle with the round part left sticking out the top) and it will keep it carbonated. I've done it overnight and still had fizz the next day!
Or just drop a raisin (or other dried fruit, this year I used cherries) in the bottom of the bottle and it lives to fizz again!
Obviously, champagne for breakfast is the only appropriate way to begin a new year.
What's leftover champagne?
Finding a MOTHER in a home brewers shop in your area can be difficult depending on where you live. A quick ride into SF on bart and I have everything I need. However in the small quaint towns in the hills of the east bay (although filled with culture and food trends) I am usually hard pressed to find what I need for my craft:
<http://thisistrix.blogspot.com/>
I use a very primitive method for making my vinegar but once I had created my own MOTHERS I was set for life.
My advice if you are interested in making a vinegar from a wine/ champagne is to get your hands on a mother. Working with wine (red, white, sparkling) for fermentation without a mother will give you poor odds for a great vinegar(although it can be done with observation and care). You will most likely grow mold atop you liquid spoiling your time and wine.
Best results for finding MOTHERS is online.