Apple cider vinegar infused with raspberries, with some pomegranate arils. Photo courtesy Pom Wonderful.
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STEPHANIE ZONIS is a contributing editor.
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December 2012
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The Best Apple Cider Vinegar:
Gingras Extra Old Apple Cider Vinegar Is A Revelation
Check out all of the very special gourmet food gifts in this series.
Really? Apple cider vinegar as a holiday gift?
Almost as many people seem to offer vinegars as olive oils these days. What’s so special about this vinegar?
Well, when was the last time you heard of an apple cider vinegar producer growing its own apples and pressing them for the cider to start the process? That’s how it’s done here.
Seventeen varieties of apples, five thousand apple trees and a family that’s been growing cider apples for two hundred years. Now, that’s old school! The Gingras Family, based in Canada, believes that the cold-climate slower maturation of their apples, in combination with the tree hibernation during the winter, produces apples ideal for cider.
It Starts In France
From France, Gingras imports a “noble vinegar mother,” or culture. That culture gradually converts the alcohol in the cider into acetic acid, which gives the vinegar its “bite.” But that bite is mellowed and polished by a stay in French oak cognac casks, which also impart both flavor and color.
There are quicker and cheaper ways to give vinegar flavor and color, but Gingras Extra Old Cider Vinegar won’t use these shortcuts.
You might expect Gingras Extra Old Cider Vinegar to steamroll your taste buds, but it
doesn’t; it wakes them up. I’ve run across a few sipping vinegars* in my life, and I’d think this would be perfect as a sipping vinegar, especially the variety infused with fresh Canadian raspberries.
I’m intrigued, too, by the idea of Pixo Pearls, vinegar caviar, though I haven’t yet tried it. This award winning product is Gingras XO Extra Old Apple Cider Vinegar, encapsulated in seaweed. It promises to be a new taste sensation
Try these products, and see what you’ve been missing in the realm of great vinegars! There are a number of recipes on the website to get you started.
Check out the history of vinegar and the different types of vinegar.
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Enjoy this exceptional apple cider vinegar plain or infused with fresh raspberries. Photo courtesy Gingras. |
*EDITOR’S NOTE: Sipping vinegar or drinking vinegar is a flavorful vinegar used as a digestíf. Drinking vinegar for health reasons is an ancient practice in many world cultures (more about vinegar and health). The Roman Legions drank it and in Colonial America, “shrubs” made with vinegar were a common tonic. Mixed with club soda or full strength, sipping vinegar is a pleasantly tart drink with concentrated flavors of the fruit (and/or vegetables) and aromatics used in the vinegar. Some are sweetened and called dessert vinegar.
GINGRAS
Extra Old Apple Cider Vinegar
- 200 ml Bottle
$6.99
- 500 ml Bottle
$11.99
Buy online at CiderVinegar.com.
Prices are verified at publication but are subject to change. Shipping is additional.
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A beautiful bottle for home or gifting. Photo courtesy Gingras.
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