Home › The Principles of Cookery › VINEGAR, MADE WITH A VINEGAR PLANT (another way)

VINEGAR, MADE WITH A VINEGAR PLANT (another way)

The vinegar plant may be thus produced. Take a solution of a quarter of a pound of sugar and half a pound of treacle in three quarts of water, simmer it, then pour it into a jar, cover it up, and keep it in a warm place for six weeks. The liquid will become vinegar, and on the top will form a scum-like fungus, which is the vinegar plant. By adding a piece of this to a similar solution, the process of conversion into vinegar will now take place in much less time. During the process the plant thickens by the formation of a new layer on its under surface, and by peeling off this layer and using it in a fresh operation, the plant may be propagated indefinitely. The vinegar plant is a fungus somewhat resembling those known by the name of mould. "It forms a flocculent mass or web, which is tough and crust-like, or leathery. It is found on decaying bodies, and in fluids undergoing the acetous fermentation, which it greatly promotes, and which, indeed, it very readily occasions--a small piece placed in sugar and water soon changing the liquid into vinegar."