Wine vinegar

Vinegar produced from wine; see there.

A sour-tasting seasoning and preservative that has been around as long as wine. If not prevented, it always turns into vinegar in the end. It was used as a drink in ancient times, mixed with other ingredients. Hippocrates (460-377 BC) recorded its medicinal use for respiratory diseases and digestive complaints. The Roman author Columella (1st century) reports in his work "De re rustica" on the production of vinegar from figs, barley and wine. Vinegar has played a role in many cultures.

Essig - Herstellung im Mittelalter Trinkessig und Weißweinessig mit Oregano

The picture on the left shows vinegar production in the Middle Ages; the picture on the right shows drinking vinegar and white wine vinegar with oregano.

Diverse uses

Vinegar is mentioned in the Bible as a staple food, the Egyptians had "hequa" (vinegar drink made from barley beer), the Babylonians used vinegar water as a refreshing drink, the Phoenicians made sour shekar from apple wine, the Greeks used it in sacrificial ceremonies, the Roman legionaries protected themselves from colds with posca (vinegar water) and in Japan, a raw egg is dissolved in traditional tamago-su (rice vinegar). In the Middle Ages, herbal vinegar was considered a remedy, as reported by Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) and Nostradamus. The invention of plague vinegar dates back to 1720, when this plague was raging in the south of France.

Cause of vinegar formation

The causes of its formation were unknown until the middle of...

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Wine vinegar

Vinegar

Diverse uses

Cause of vinegar formation

Voices of our members

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