# Drinking Vinegar **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2008, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956 "2008-08-14T09:00:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/1 "2008-08-14T09:00:35Z")
There’s a fairly popular non-alcohol drink here, vinegar. You mix it with water or just take it straight up. The vinegar is flavored with different fruits. I prefer the persimmon-flavored mixed with water. My question is: What are the possible advantages or disadvantages of drinking the stuff? ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/2 "2008-08-14T09:15:00Z")
What do you mean by here? Korea? And what percentage is of actual vinegar in that drinking stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/3 "2008-08-14T09:27:30Z")
My GF forces me to drink White Apple Cider vinegar and water everytime I have stomach problems so I’m looking forward to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/4 "2008-08-14T09:40:03Z")
Yes. _Here_ refers to my current location. I live in Busan, South Korea. According to the information on the bottle of the stuff on my table right now: > [@](#): > > 석류식초 48.9% 함유. > 석류과즙 함량 587g/l. which translates to: > [@](#): > > Pomegranate vinegar 48.9% by content. > Pomegranate fruit juice 587 grams/liter. I used the wrong word above. It’s the pomegranate that I prefer. Persimmon is a very close second. The company that makes the stuff markets nine varieties: [ul][li]Pomegranate[/li][li]Persimmon[/li][li]Purple Sweet Potato[/li][li]Blueberry[/li][li]Brown Rice[/li][li]Black Bean[/li][li]Three others I can’t find the translation for.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/5 "2008-08-14T11:53:08Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Yes. _Here_ refers to my current location. I live in Busan, South Korea. According to the information on the bottle of the stuff on my table right now: which translates to: I used the wrong word above. It’s the pomegranate that I prefer. Persimmon is a very close second. The company that makes the stuff markets nine varieties: [ul][li]Pomegranate[/li][li]Persimmon[/li][li]Purple Sweet Potato[/li][li]Blueberry[/li][li]Brown Rice[/li][li]Black Bean[/li][li]Three others I can’t find the translation for.[/li][/ul] [/QUOTE] Those sound really nice! Vinegar in particular apple vinegar is big here for drinking too. It is said to “clean the blood” whatever that means. I think it can’t do any harm in moderation and is probably a lot more healthful than sodas or any heavily sweetened drinks. I am not sure about this vinegar or indeed your rules but Malt vinegar and rice vinegar and of course wine vinegar are all started from alcoholic drinks. Would that affect your ability to drink them as a Mormon even though there’s no alcohol in them now? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/6 "2008-08-14T11:58:51Z")
It used to be popular to drink fruit-flavored drinks made with vinegar in the United States, about 150 years ago. I learned about this at Sturbridge Village, where they recreate 19th century life. It’s basically a fruit syrup that one dilutes with water and adds sugar to – sounds like 19th century Kool-Aid: > [@](#): > > I was not familiar with raspberry shrub, a sweet raspberry syrup that’s mixed with water and ice, but decided to tuck the column away until raspberries were available and try it. > > The ingredients, according to Paddleford’s column, were simply four quarts of raspberries, one quart of cider vinegar and sugar. Here’s the rest of the recipe: > > “Clean and pick over berries. Cover with vinegar and let stand four days. Strain. To each cup of juice add one cup of sugar. Boil 15 minutes and bottle when cold. Approximate yield: 5 cups syrup. Serve diluted with three parts of cold water to one part syrup. Fill a tall glass with crushed ice and pour in the perfume. Tingle it, whiff it, sip it - and smile.” > > I did a little research on the Internet and discovered other variations that called for soaking various quantities of raspberries in vinegar for two days, or no soaking at all. “Shrub,” one article informed, is an old Arabic word that means “drink” and is related to “sharba,” the word for syrup. [http://entertainment.mainetoday.com/dining/stories/060726soupnuts.shtml](http://entertainment.mainetoday.com/dining/stories/060726soupnuts.shtml) Note that this variation gets a lot of sugar added to it, not to mention water. I’ve seemn it in various flavors, including blueberry. ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/7 "2008-08-14T12:05:18Z")
Actual content of acetic acid in vinegar is usually around 5%, so if it’s mixed with juice 50/50 it’s resulting concentration is 2-3% tops. Not dangerous at all. I’d say it’s roughly equivalent to drinks based on lemon juice - only contains acetic instead of citric acid. Advantage would be it quenches thirst better than plain water. I can’t see any disadvantage for healthy people. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/8 "2008-08-14T12:10:12Z")
In the art school I went to, a couple of guys I knew drank loads of vinegar in order to pass drug screenings so they could get a job with the local power company. We were freshman. Does that explain a lot? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/9 "2008-08-14T12:32:54Z")
[QUOTE=Hokkaido Brit] Those sound really nice! Vinegar in particular apple vinegar is big here for drinking too. It is said to “clean the blood” whatever that means. [/quote] I hear that comment here too, but in Korean of course! I think they’re delicious. I’ve a bottle of the blueberry stuff which I’m going to try later. Being housebound gives me an opportunity to go through the entire pantry. > [@](#): > > I am not sure about this vinegar or indeed your rules but Malt vinegar and rice vinegar and of course wine vinegar are all started from alcoholic drinks. Would that affect your ability to drink them as a Mormon even though there’s no alcohol in them now? As long as there’s no alcohol, coffe, tea, or tobacco in them, there’s no problem. I never even knew about the stuff until one Saturday in 2006 when I hosted a party for the teens and a couple of the adult leaders from my ward. The Young Women’s leader brought a couple of bottles. My first experience dining in England was when I ordered fish and chips in Preston. The lady at the stand asked me if I wanted salt and vinegar. I told her no but she’d already sprinkled the stuff on. I tried it. The vinegar was malt vinegar and it tasted very good! ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/10 "2008-08-14T12:44:04Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] I hear that comment here too, but in Korean of course! I think they’re delicious. I’ve a bottle of the blueberry stuff which I’m going to try later. Being housebound gives me an opportunity to go through the entire pantry. As long as there’s no alcohol, coffe, tea, or tobacco in them, there’s no problem. I never even knew about the stuff until one Saturday in 2006 when I hosted a party for the teens and a couple of the adult leaders from my ward. The Young Women’s leader brought a couple of bottles. My first experience dining in England was when I ordered fish and chips in Preston. The lady at the stand asked me if I wanted salt and vinegar. I told her no but she’d already sprinkled the stuff on. I tried it. The vinegar was malt vinegar and it tasted very good! [/QUOTE] Mmmm, fish and chips… I miss malt vinegar so much even in this land of vinegar. Our local supermarket devotes more shelf space to vinegars than it does to breakfast cereals! I finally found it in an import shop in Sapporo, so every six months or so I go and buy a couple more bottles. I read the Wikipedia article on vinegar and it says it’s supposed to be an appetite suppressant which is why people use it as a diet supplement. Hmmmm. I love the stuff so much that if I put it on food I will simply eat more of that dish to get the sour taste! Also a lot of the fruity ones have a fair amount of sugar in them too. If the blueberry vinegar is very sweet then try a tablespoonful drizzled over vanilla ice cream. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/11 "2008-08-14T13:19:20Z")
[QUOTE=Hokkaido Brit] Those sound really nice! Vinegar in particular apple vinegar is big here for drinking too. It is said to “clean the blood” whatever that means. [/QUOTE] Apple cider vinegar got a big boost as a cure-all some decades back when a Dr. Jarvis touted it in a popular book about old-time remedies. If you google ACV you’ll find all sorts of sweeping claims about it being a weight-loss agent (oddly, some lists also claim it helps you _gain_ weight), a cure for cancer and all kinds of chronic, annoying and socially unacceptable diseases. A variety of marketers have been busted over the years for promoting vinegar pills or products in this way. The reality is that there’s nothing magic about ACV or vinegar in general. It’s a relatively poor supply of nutrients (better just to eat your fruits and veggies). Pomegranate products have gotten press recently because of their antioxidant qualities. Evidence backing the hype is modest at best. Any food or supplement that is pushed as a “toxin remover” or “cleanse” should set off quackery alarms. The claimed “toxins” turn out not to be toxins at all in the concentrations present, or the body handles them nicely without outside aid, or the “cleanse” doesn’t do anything to the “toxins”. Or, all of the above. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/12 "2008-08-14T13:20:58Z")
[QUOTE=puppygod] Advantage would be it quenches thirst better than plain water. [/QUOTE] I’m going to let my ognorance show. Why is this? -rainy ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/13 "2008-08-14T13:25:35Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] Any food or supplement that is pushed as a “toxin remover” or “cleanse” should set off quackery alarms. The claimed “toxins” turn out not to be toxins at all in the concentrations present, or the body handles them nicely without outside aid, or the “cleanse” doesn’t do anything to the “toxins”. Or, all of the above. [/QUOTE] Well, considering that it came from my mental, ignorant daft old biddy of a mother in law I really didn’t believe it anyway! However, this is not a new fad in Japan, it’s really old and she has a lot of folklore under her belt that is fairly sensible when considered. She thinks that at least one meal a day should have a vinegared dish, and at that rate of consumption it’s not going to do any harm. Plus I LOOOOOOVE any kind of sour! ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/14 "2008-08-14T13:29:30Z")
Related Cecil column which I guess everyone missed: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/060623.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/060623.html) ---
**Author:** ![justrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@justrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justrob)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/15 "2008-08-14T14:33:17Z")
My only experience with vinegar drinks is a middle eastern one called Sekanjabin. [http://library.thinkquest.org/11719/vasishtfiles/sekanjabin.html](http://library.thinkquest.org/11719/vasishtfiles/sekanjabin.html) I have to say it was very refreshing on a hot day. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/16 "2008-08-14T15:00:01Z")
A couple walk into a bar. The bartender says, “What’ll you have, folks?” The man is grumpy and says, “Give me a bourbon on the rocks, and give this douchebag whatever she wants.” “Sir, I have to ask you to show respect! This is not some low-class joint, this is a dignified establishment! Now, ma’am, what can I get you?” “I’ll have a vinegar and water.” Sorry :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/17 "2008-08-14T18:03:54Z")
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas] Sorry :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Ya’ beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/18 "2008-08-14T18:08:33Z")
I used to drink cider vinegar, just because I like it. I think I diluted it in half with water, and sometimes added a little sugar. I got started from helping grandma make cucumbers & onions - I loved the brine(?) she used and started mixing it up just to drink. I also remember the huge “vinegar cures everything” craze. :rolleyes: I’m tempted to try making some shrub, now. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/19 "2008-08-14T18:52:14Z")
My dad is a firm believer in the curative powers of vinegar. He makes up this stuff he calls “Jog in a Jug”–half apple juice, half cider vinegar–and drinks a little juice glass of it each morning. He swears it’s good for cholesterol. I doubt it, but I figure drinking the stuff is unlikely to hurt him. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956/20 "2008-08-14T19:26:07Z")
What you are desribing is an old new england drink-swich 9or switch0, it was made from cider vinegar, molasses, and water. It is actually quite pleasant, and was a way to use all of that cider that went sour. new englanders didn’t like to waste anything-which is why they drank buttermilk (uggh!) as well! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-vinegar/459956.md?page=2)