Culinary vinegar is as old as civilization. 5,000 year old records from Babylonia show appreciation of vinegar benefits. Vinegar is thought to be the second oldest fermented food after wine. Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, Sumerian, Roman, and Persian cultures valued vinegar. Ancient claims of health benefits are numerous. Hippocrates prescribed drinking vinegar to his patients, and the Greeks took it as a tonic. Roman legions carried it to help protect against sickness.
During the Middle Ages vinegar was widely used as a condiment, beverage, body wash, and a protective remedy. A well-known story from Europe’s plague epidemic, Four Thieves Vinegar, tells how four thieves protected themselves from the plague with vinegar as they stole from the homes of the disabled sick.
Vinegar drink refreshments were very common, even in America, they were a precursor to soda pops. Some of the oldest drinks were posca in ancient Rome, oxymel in ancient Greece made from vinegar and honey, and sekanjabin a traditional Persian drink similar to oxymel.
Today’s vinegar use and benefits remain varied and numerous. The Internet is a good source to learn about them. Generally, health benefits of vinegar are reserved for traditionally made natural vinegars, like those offered by Eden Foods.
Vin Aigre to Vinegar
The word vinegar is from the French vin aigre which means sour wine. In 1865, Louis Pasteur explained how wine became vinegar in a process he called acetification. What created vinegar were airborne bacteria, or acetobacter which get into the wine during its initial fermentation. In the presence of oxygen, those bacteria then cause another fermentation of the alcohol turning it into acetic acid, making vinegar.
Vinegar can be made from anything containing sugars or carbohydrates (complex sugars), such as fruit and grain.
Raw & Unpasteurized
Mother of vinegar is a gelatinous substance found in raw, unpasteurized vinegar. Its Latin name is Mycoderma aceti meaning ‘skin of the acid.’ It is composed of cellulose and Acetobacter aceti bacteria. Mother contains friendly bacteria similar to sourdough starter that are part of the reason raw vinegar has a powerful healthy reputation.
Organic EDEN Apple Cider Vinegar and EDEN Red Wine Vinegar are raw, unpasteurized, and traditionally crafted with no additives or processing aids. Their fruity bouquet and smooth rich taste are only achieved using the finest ingredients, artisan skill, and a patient tending that allows it to mellow. Healthy vinegar contains a variety of beneficial organic acids, friendly bacteria, enzymes, and a range of phytonutrients. Researchers are only now learning why extensive anecdotal evidence exists of vinegar’s ability to promote overall good health. Vinegar benefits are not from a single component of raw vinegar, but rather from all of its components working in concert. Organic EDEN Apple Cider and Red Wine Vinegars contain mother that shows as an opacity or cloudiness. Mother in raw vinegar indicates values that provide health and wellness benefit and helps us maintain an appropriate acid/alkaline balance.
Industrially made vinegar is mainly sterile, diluted acetic acid that is commonly made from petrochemicals, and not very suitable for use as culinary vinegar. It is good for cleaning though.
Artisan Methods
Organic EDEN Brown Rice Vinegar is made using a very old method, unchanged for over a thousand years. Organic short grain brown rice, koji Aspergillus oryzae, and mountain spring water are mixed in large earthenware crocks that are partially buried outdoors, covered, and allowed to ferment for about eight months to create a vinegar with a sweet, smooth, mellow flavor. Rare today, authentic brown rice vinegar is a highly valued health food in Japan. Its sweetness is a delight and is required for making the best sushi rice.
Modern imitation rice vinegar is made of synthetic acetic acid, unhealthy caramel color, refined sugar, genetically engineered (GMO) enzymes, and chemical additives.
Treasured Brine
EDEN Ume Plum Vinegar is the pickling brine from making umeboshi (pickled plums). It has a 4.3 percent acidity, and unlike other vinegars is salty. This blend of organic acids and pickling brine has been used in Japan for thousands of years to flavor and preserve food. Its native name is ume-su (plum vinegar) and its ruby hue is from red shiso leaves Perilla frutescens (beefsteak leaves).
EDEN Ume Plum Vinegar contains absolutely no additives. It carries forward ancient methods, phytonutrients, and efficacies that have made this umeboshi brine vinegar so famous.
Commercial imitations are dyed with a red dye.
Amber Glass Protection
EDEN Vinegars are bottled in dark amber glass to protect flavor, nutrients, and beneficial character from the deleterious effects of light-caused photo oxidation. This is systemic in retail food stores where particularly damaging fluorescent lighting is common. Most plastics adulterate and add bad flavor to food. Amber glass is superior and best suited for food, but more difficult and costly to obtain. Amber glass protects food best from light damage, and best protects food quality.
Eden News
Medicine has been derailed with government policies design to enrich Wall Street investors.
Medical Care & Health Insurance For Profit, Managed
with a Wall Street Mentality, is a horrible recipe.
on another note -
If you tell the truth,
it becomes part of your past.
If you tell a lie,
it becomes part of your future.
Rejuvenative is the new spin word replacing the overly greenwashed spin word Sustainable. Rejuvenative agricultural practices allow use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides fungicides, and toxic agricultural chemicals, “when it is necessary.”