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Vinegar, Made with a Vinegar Plant

Boil half a pound of coarse brown sugar and half a pound of treacle in two gallons of water, stir it well, put it into a large jar, and when it is lukewarm put on it a vinegar plant. Let it stand in a warm place for two months or more, when the liquor will have turned to vinegar. Boil the vinegar, strain it, and bottle for use. Keep it in a cool place. The vinegar plant is a fungus which grows in the liquor in warmth and darkness. If left without the liquor, it will die. A plant may be purchased often at a trifling cost: market people are the most likely to sell it. It will form in vinegar casks, and when it is used, a young plant will grow on the old one, which can be applied to the same purpose. In country places it is often spoken of as the "mother."