Homemade berry vinegar is easily made in your home kitchen preserving the goodness of fresh seasonal fruit.
Homemade Berry Vinegar
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
Homemade Berry Vinegar is my recipe of the day for Berry Week. I love making vinegars every year- sometimes with berries, sometimes with other fruits, occasionally with herbs and then there is pepper vinegar, the staple of the south.
There isn’t a whole lot involved with making these vinegars from scratch as it takes just the fruit, a supply of white wine vinegar, and some canning jars.
What Type of Vinegar Should I Use?
As a word of caution, I don’t advise trying this with cider vinegar, white vinegar or anything else as the flavors will either be harsh, off, or just discolored in the vinegar itself. You want a nice clear vinegar to showcase the lovely color of your fruit, but white vinegar is just harsh flavored.
Where Should I Store My Vinegar?
After you set up the vinegar, you will want to store it in a nice dark place. Basements and cellars are great as they are cool and dark. You really don’t want to store in a hot place. If you don’t have something handy, you can always create a dark place inside a heavy paper grocery bag and set off to the side somewhere where the room temp is nice. Stay away from the laundry room with it if you store things there as the dryer will put off heat.
Sitting quietly in their dark world, vinegars will look wonderful in about 3-4 weeks. The fruit itself may appear like the color has faded, but that’s ok.
How To Finish It Up
Strain the berries off and try to avoid any sediment in the bottom of the jar if you have that as it will make the vinegar cloudy.
The vinegar is safe to keep at room temp because of the vinegar content.
Don’t keep the berries in the vinegar as it will degrade. Sometimes, when doing herb vinegars, I will keep a sprig of tarragon in it but even that can look not so pretty after awhile.
Enjoy your berry vinegar as you would any other, or try putting it in your favorite homemade vinaigrettes for a more delicious and complex flavor.
Tuesday Berry Week Recipes
It’s Berry Week so all week long you will be seeing berry oriented recipes on various participating blogs. I will be participating three days this week as time allows. Check my events calendar on the right margin for more details.
Here are today’s recipes:
- Homemade Berry Vinegar by Palatable Pastime (You are Here!)
- Naked Chocolate Cake with Mixed Berry Ginger Frosting by The Spiffy Cookie
- Raspberry Crostata by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Spinach and Berry Salad with Grilled Steak by A Day in the Life on the Farm
You Might Also Like:
Strawberry Caprese Pasta Salad
Persian Blueberry Anar Salad with Cucumber and Goat Cheese
Strawberry Avocado Salad
Salad with Cranberry, Pear, Walnuts and Gorgonzola
Strawberry Barbecue Chicken
Homemade Berry Vinegar
Homemade Berry Vinegar
Ingredients
- Fresh berries such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries
- White wine vinegar
Instructions
- Rinse berries and fill canning jars 3/4 full with the berries.
- Bring white wine vinegar to a boil and top up jars, placing a small piece of plastic over the top berries to keep them submerged.
- Place lids on jars and store undisturbed in a cool dark place for about one month.
- Strain berries from vinegar without pressing on them and discard berries.
- Store vinegar in a cool dry place.
Notes
This vinegar would have been perfect to make a dressing for my salad that I shared today. Thanks for sharing.