Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is vinegar fermented from apple juice, valued for its mellow fruity tang, and used widely in dressings, marinades, pickling, and traditional American cooking.
How to buy
Filtered, clear apple cider vinegar is the most neutral and common choice for everyday cooking. Unfiltered versions "with the mother" are cloudier, with visible sediment, and prized for a slightly funkier flavor. Check the acidity percentage, usually around 5 percent, for consistency when pickling.
How to store
Store in a cool, dark pantry; it's shelf-stable indefinitely thanks to its acidity, though flavor may mellow slightly over very long storage. Refrigeration isn't necessary but doesn't hurt.
Culinary profile
- Flavor
- Tangy and sharp like other vinegars, but with a rounder, fruitier sweetness underneath than white vinegar's harsher acidity. Unfiltered versions taste a touch more complex and slightly funky.
- Texture
- Thin and watery like most vinegars; unfiltered versions may show faint cloudiness or visible strands of sediment, the "mother."
- Aroma
- A sharp, tangy, faintly apple-like aroma, milder and fruitier than distilled white vinegar's sharper bite.
How to prepare
- Whisked into vinaigrette — Combined with oil for a fruitier, milder dressing than white vinegar gives.
- Used in pickling brine — Provides the acid base for quick pickles and preserved vegetables.
- Added to marinade — Tenderizes and flavors meat marinades with mild acidity.
- Stirred into braising liquid — Added to pulled pork or braises for background tang that balances richness.
Classic dishes
American
- Carolina vinegar-based BBQ sauce — A thin, tangy barbecue sauce whose signature sharpness comes from apple cider vinegar.
- Southern coleslaw — A creamy or vinegar-based slaw brightened with a splash of apple cider vinegar.
- Classic American vinaigrette — A simple oil and vinegar dressing that often uses apple cider vinegar for its fruity edge.
- Quick pickled vegetables — Vegetables briefly brined in a mixture of apple cider vinegar, sugar, and salt.
- Braised collard greens — Slow-cooked greens finished with a splash of vinegar to cut their richness.
- Switchel — A colonial-era American drink of water, ginger, sweetener, and apple cider vinegar.
- Homemade buttermilk substitute — Milk curdled lightly with apple cider vinegar to mimic buttermilk's tang in baking.
- Honey mustard dressing — A sweet-tangy dressing combining mustard, honey, and apple cider vinegar.
- Pickled beets — Cooked beets preserved in a sweet-tart apple cider vinegar brine.
- Apple cider-braised pork shoulder — Pork slow-braised with apple cider vinegar for tang that balances the meat's richness.
- Pulled pork vinegar mop sauce — A thin basting sauce brushed onto smoking pork, built largely on apple cider vinegar.
- Shrub syrup — A fruit and vinegar syrup, often based on apple cider vinegar, used to flavor sparkling drinks.
- Vinegar pie crust — A flaky pie crust recipe that adds a splash of apple cider vinegar to improve texture.
German
- Hot German potato salad — A warm potato salad dressed with a tangy bacon and vinegar dressing.
- Braised red cabbage — Red cabbage slow-cooked and finished with a splash of vinegar for brightness.
Substitutions
- Lemon — Fresh lemon juice can replace apple cider vinegar's acidity in dressings and marinades, though it brings a brighter citrus note instead of the vinegar's fruitier, more mellow tang.