# What the heck is vinegar and what is it even made from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 2, 2025, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780 "2025-02-02T21:19:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/21 "2025-02-03T02:10:41Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > You’re mixing your units. Shouldn’t it be 15ml (possibly 15g, if it’s in powder form) to 1000ml of water? I didn’t realize this would cause an uproar! My measuring spoons are in customary units and my graduated cylinders are metric. The basic recipe for good stop-bath is “one tablespoon of acetic acid for 1000 ml of water” as far as I know, and it’s a pretty fast-and-loose recipe–all it needs to do is kill the developer quickly, nothing precise. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/22 "2025-02-03T10:32:18Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > It makes an excellent stop bath for making darkroom prints. They also make a super powerful vinegar to spay weeds. Your supposed to wear gloves and safety goggles. It’s pretty nasty stuff. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/23 "2025-02-03T11:10:44Z")
About 15-20 years ago we had a bottle of cider vinegar, and when it was empty i didn’t wash it, and from then on, every time we had a bottle/box of red wine i would pour the dregs (which could be a glass full or so) into it hoping to make some red wine vinegar. It never turned into vinegar, but smells lovely - like a very full bodied wine. I have not tasted it (i must do that) but add it to recipes when called for. I assume this is an example of sod’s law; if you want to make vinegar, it won’t happen, if you don’t want vinegar, it will. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/24 "2025-02-03T14:22:50Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > It makes an excellent stop bath for making darkroom prints. Highly useful in the tanning of skins, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/25 "2025-02-03T18:04:01Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Who uses metric quantities and Fahrenheit cooking temperatures? Me? Because I use metric cooking measurements but own an American oven. ETA: More on-topic, if I add the mother from my apple cider vinegar (“with Mother!”, the packaging says…) into one of my home batches of mead, will I potentially get some vinegar, given enough time? Might have to try that… ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/26 "2025-02-03T18:33:08Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > Me? Because I use metric cooking measurements but own an American oven. Me too. Because I have an American oven and sometimes use metric recipes and other times use recipes involving cups or pounds. Am I supposed to have two ovens? ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/27 "2025-02-03T20:05:16Z")
Our confused Canadian neighbors mix metric and imperial a fair bit. Even Brits still do it in some cases, but to a lesser extent. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/28 "2025-02-03T21:41:06Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > It takes longer than that to turn into vinegar but the process has started and the wine will be off in taste pretty fast (day or so…depends). Kind of. The wine is beginning to oxidize, which is turning ethanol into acetaldehyde. It _might_ later turn into vinegar, but that’s hit or miss unless you add a mother. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/29 "2025-02-03T21:50:12Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’ve had [one of these](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07ZTXD1R6/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_plhdr=t&aaxitk=3cd773f736b512d3501be2b29da4c11e&hsa_cr_id=0&qid=1738535976&sr=1-1-9e67e56a-6f64-441f-a281-df67fc737124&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_lsi4d_asin_0_img&pd_rd_w=TMAhK&content-id=amzn1.sym.8591358d-1345-4efd-9d50-5bd4e69cd942%3Aamzn1.sym.8591358d-1345-4efd-9d50-5bd4e69cd942&pf_rd_p=8591358d-1345-4efd-9d50-5bd4e69cd942&pf_rd_r=7B9SDR9FEY3STJ3D7GFS&pd_rd_wg=pJXU3&pd_rd_r=6577905e-a1bf-4331-84c5-6ee56ed86f7b&th=1) for many years and never had a bottle go bad no longer how long it sits. despite the many positive reviews, it’s generally agreed that those don’t really work, at least not particularly well. [Do vacuum pumps work for saving leftover wine?](https://www.winespectator.com/articles/do-vacuum-pumps-work-for-saving-leftover-wine) It may be that you have just not had an open bottle sit long enough to go bad (I haven’t either!). ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/30 "2025-02-03T22:38:18Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > Our confused Canadian neighbors mix metric and imperial a fair bit. Even Brits still do it in some cases, but to a lesser extent. This is true. Almost evry recipe I see is in Imperial (or rather, USA, since that is where many originate). And I don’t thin I’ve seen an oven with metric, even as a secondary scale - recently bought an air fryer, the first device that uses Celcius. (I think it can be changed). My 6-year-old Samsung stove talks Farenheit, although being digital I’m sure there’s a setup somewhere for metric. Howeve, the weather is in metric and those young whippersnappers are confused by Farenheit temperatures. But still understand feet and inches, and are confused by body weight in kilos. I’ve used vinegar for photographic stop bath. IIRC I had to dilute it. Vinegar is also useful for dealing with fruit flies. Cover a small dish or bowl of vinegar with plastic wrap, poke a few small holes. Fruit flies will follow the smell in and not be able to get out. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/31 "2025-02-03T22:50:33Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > And I don’t thin I’ve seen an oven with metric, even as a secondary scale - recently bought an air fryer, the first device that uses Celcius. (I think it can be changed). My 6-year-old Samsung stove talks Farenheit, although being digital I’m sure there’s a setup somewhere for metric. If the control panel of the oven is digital there is likely an option to flip it to either F or C. Mine does it (there is a little fuss to it…more than a simple button push but still easily done). Trivial for the people making the oven to make that happen. If you have knobs then you are stuck with whatever the knobs indicate. ETA: Do they make knobs with other indications that work too? Seems doable but I’ve never checked. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/32 "2025-02-04T00:04:46Z")
I would have to respectfully argue the point. The bottle absolutely holds a vacuum for a very long time (you have to release the pressure when reopening) and you can hear the hiss when released. We don’t drink a lot, so a bottle can sit for some time. Of course, my palate is no longer like it once was. . . ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/33 "2025-02-04T00:08:55Z")
Most household vinegar is around 99% water. It is possible to obtain vinegar that is about 40% ascetic acid, which can be used to murder garden weeds without leaving anything toxic behind in the soil, and some rockhounds use it for descaling rocks. There is also industrial vinegar at 75%, which calls for using breathing and skin protection when handling. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/34 "2025-02-04T00:23:51Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Most household vinegar is around 99% water. Most is 95% water. If you’re buying 99% water, you’re getting seriously ripped off. Heck, even the 96% water stuff I saw for sale once is a serious rip-off. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/35 "2025-02-05T14:49:48Z")
Although _mucilage_ is technically a sticky, slimy substance manufactured by many plants and micro-organisms, you can make a “mucilage glue” by making gelatin with vinegar, or a mixture of vinegar and water, instead of using water alone. I was told that this is what the commercial “mucilage” that used to be ubiquitous in classrooms and offices was made of. Online sources suggest that other sources (like slippery elm bark) might be used, but I suspect that the cheapness and ready access to gelatin would make vinegar gelatin the preferred mucilage recipe. In any event, whether you use gelatin or plant sources, mucilage is edible, which no doubt explains the use of this stuff in schools. For the longest time I wondered why this stuff was so popular – when it dried out it no longer stuck, but turned into a crumbly mass that got everywhere. Nowadays it’s been replaced by sticky notes and glue sticks, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/36 "2025-02-05T17:25:31Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > ETA: For example, I bake bread with metric weights, but think of temperature in Fahrenheit. Come to think of it, any salt and yeast I add I think of in terms of teaspoons. Hmmm. Canadian? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/37 "2025-02-05T17:26:03Z")
Nope. It’s just easier for me to do baker’s percentages (or butcher’s percentages if I’m making sausage) that way. Usually, when I weigh ingredients, it’s metric, as it’s so much easier to work with when you have to include ingredients by percentage. Another case is when I make my hot pepper paste – I just use food processed red peppers of whatever type and add 20% salt by weight. But I don’t need an oven for that, so I’m not mixing my units. I know there is at least one other case where I mix imperial and metric together that I thought of the other day to bring back to this thread, but I’ve forgotten what it is. Sometimes it just makes sense and is easier to mix units. I don’t know what a 425 oven is in Celsius off the top of my head, so it’s silly for me to think of temperature in Celsius just to maintain unit consistency. Hell, I don’t know if they still do this, but Brits I hung around with 20 years ago would talk in miles per gallon while buying their petrol by the litre. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/38 "2025-02-05T22:13:47Z")
Of all of the unit systems that get lumped together under the label of “metric”, Celsius is the one for which the case is least compelling, and an oven temperature is a situation that’s especially unit-agnostic. In fact, from what I understand, in some parts of the world, the usual markings on an oven control are just labels like “High”, “Medium”, and “Low”, without even any numbers attached. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/39 "2025-02-05T23:41:05Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > There is also industrial vinegar at 75%, which calls for using breathing and skin protection when handling. And there’s just proper glacial acetic acid, which is anhydrous and has an annoying tendency to freeze in the lab in the winter. And of course is not made by biological routes because it would take too long by comparison of the industrial method. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780/40 "2025-02-05T23:47:11Z")
For that matter, foods sometimes make use of non-biogenic acetic acid, too. It can’t legally be called vinegar; it’s sometimes referred to as “non-brewed condiment”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-vinegar-and-what-is-it-even-made-from/1013780.md?page=3)