Vinagre de Jerez

Sherry vinegar just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?

I despair of all these recipes that endlessly insist in dribbling drizzling drops of balsamic vinegar all over everything. This trend must have started years ago, I would have thought it should be well past its sell-by date.

Vinagre de Jerez is a vastly superior vinegar. Apart from the fact that it makes sense to buy a locally-produced vinegar (ie in Jerez in Andalucía) I prefer the flavour because it isn’t as sweet as balsamic.

On my father’s side, the family adored vinegar, and I inherited the trait. Although not to the extent my partner does, as he slops some on every single meal. I suspect this was a childhood habit to counteract the excessive salt thrown into everything by his mother. [Ouch!] Still, he does tell me my food tastes wonderful, so who am I to worry if it’s really vinagre de Jerez that tastes wonderful.

Sherry vinegar at Morrisons costs around £1.99 for 250ml. I think this was slightly cheaper and is 375ml, from Coviran (at New Harbours), but it is a far superior ‘sherry vinegar’. I tend to be a label woman – if it’s a decent label, I’ll buy it.

Vinagre de Jerez, Romate

This one is made by the Sanchez Romate brothers and the firm dates back to 1781. The vinegar is produced in casks of American oak and the acidity level is 7%. The bottle has an official ‘denomination of origin’ stamp on it, pretty much like wine bottles have.

There is only one sherry vinegar at Morrisons – there are six, yes SIX! balsamic vinegars there, and a balsamic glaze, which naturally is for dribbling, drizzling, according to the label. The world is full of sheep. So if you are one, follow me instead and put down that bottle of balsamic stuff and buy vinagre de Jerez. Apart from anything else, technically it is nearer to both the UK and North America than Italy. Possible even to Australia as although further west than Modena, it is further south. OK, I digress.

Next, red wine vinegar. What a silly label on this bottle with those mixed lower case fonts. It looks like one of those ghastly WP cloud category things. (But it was cheaper than Aspall’s).

Red wine vinegar

Occasionally used by me in cooking, or as a change to Jerez, but its main use at the moment is to marinate our onions. I said before that we always have a bowl of onions soaking in the fridge, to use with sandwiches, or sometimes with Thai or Indonesian meals, when I add cucumber and chillies too.

In this one, I’ve stuck a couple of leaves of mint in for a change.

Onions and mint in red wine vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is the least used one in our repertoire. It goes in Chinese meals sometimes for that slight apple flavour to contribute the ‘sweet’ aspect of sweet and sour. It’s the nearest we get to sweet. Sour and hot is our preference.

ACV also occasionally goes in the dog water dish as prevention against fleas and ticks. Might think about adding it to his food rather than water, and also spraying him with it in tick/flea season.

Vinagre de manzana

Finally, ordinary wine vinegar. We always tend to have this in as a basic vinegar – it can be used like any of the others above. I tend to forget you can use it as an all-purpose cleaner, its main use at the moment is as a conditioner for my hair.

I was reminded about this on another blog site and, when I ran out of conditioner one day, decided to give it a go. If you look at my profile pic, it’s obvious I’ve got long hair that isn’t straight, and can literally be a pain to brush. Vinegar rinse? Brilliant. Leaves it tangle free, shiny, and not surprisingly, my hair just doesn’t get greasy.

Compare the ingredients in a bottle of vinegar with the junk in some gloopy conditioner container. Much simpler and more natural.

Compare the price. At Coviran, the 2 litre bottle was 80 pence, the smaller one is 45 pence, but probably equally as cost effective as it has a tiny trickle spray thing. And not as big to take in the shower. Morrison’s vinegar runs out dearer at 55 pence for 500 mill. Hence buying the Coviran vinegar.

Vinagre de vino - my hair conditioner/rinse of choice

Cheap, effective, and pretty natural. My top tip for the day.

And no, I don’t smell like a fish and chip shop.

Pronunciation note: If there is anyone who doesn’t know, thought I would point out that Jerez is pronounced Herrrrrr-reth. Sorry about all the rrs – the only way I could think of to try and indicate that it is a short ‘e’ and the first syllable is not pronounced Her, as in the English word ‘her’. The accent is on the last syllable.

And I should have said that this fitted neatly into the WordPress ‘indulge’ photo challenge word of the week. I don’t think I need to spell it out, you can all work it out for yourselves.