We make our own vinegar with a "mother", using a 3 litre, wooden-tapped jar for red wine vinegar and another like jar for milder vinegar. Both vinegars are superior to anything you could buy.
Nowadays I wait until the red vinegar is sharp and the cider one soft and easy, then bottle one and a half litres of each in various shaped bottles for home use and gifts.
I write on this wonderful practise as a friend has just asked for a "mother".
Mothers produce daughters who become the new mothers. I have to dispose of the old ones every so often to keep them from clogging up the tap. I have to roll up my sleeve to do it, delving in and selecting the old for disposal.
To select a gift sample I was surprised to find only one mature mother - sulking at the bottom of her jar. Perhaps I had neglected to feed her with fresh wine. So I had to act the surgeon and tear off part of her body.
I now hope that the gift piece will generate vinegar and produce daughters as it should, and that my own crudely torn mother will recover her normal circular shape and virility. I have faith in her.
Nowadays I wait until the red vinegar is sharp and the cider one soft and easy, then bottle one and a half litres of each in various shaped bottles for home use and gifts.
I write on this wonderful practise as a friend has just asked for a "mother".
Mothers produce daughters who become the new mothers. I have to dispose of the old ones every so often to keep them from clogging up the tap. I have to roll up my sleeve to do it, delving in and selecting the old for disposal.
To select a gift sample I was surprised to find only one mature mother - sulking at the bottom of her jar. Perhaps I had neglected to feed her with fresh wine. So I had to act the surgeon and tear off part of her body.
I now hope that the gift piece will generate vinegar and produce daughters as it should, and that my own crudely torn mother will recover her normal circular shape and virility. I have faith in her.
