Do you realize vinegar has been around for over 10,000 years? For centuries families have passed down vinegar health benefits from one generation to the next. Every nationality has their own reasons for using this magic elixir and their own special recipe. Yet, all vinegars are not created equal! For instance;

White Vinegar should never be consumed as a food product or even as a preservative. White Vinegar is made from the cheapest ingredients, like wood chips, or pure grain alcohol. It does have its place in the vinegar family but its acidity is so high that it’s best to use it as a grease buster in your garage or as a nontoxic weed killer.

Even though vinegar can be made from just about any mildly sweet liquid, the most popular made today is Apple Cider Vinegar. When you read or hear anything referring to vinegar most likely (unless otherwise specified) it’s referring to Apple Cider Vinegar.

Apple Cider Vinegar is most impressive for its medicinal properties. It’s strong enough to kill bacteria and fungus, yet mild enough to apply directly to your skin, drink full strength as a tonic, or used to cure ills, bumps, blows, or aching muscles. It’s even safe for pets to cure skin disorders, or as a nontoxic flea control and deodorizer. Generations have used it to clean, freshen, deodorize, sanitize and put sparkle in just about any surface including glass, clothing and even your hair. Besides all that, it just tastes so darn good. Consider all the wonderful recipes for main dishes, side dishes, desserts, preserving, pickling and canning. Imagine how bland the world would be without vinegar. To insure you’re getting those important vitamins, minerals and nutrients that you’re looking for choose organic with the mother of vinegar.

Balsamic Vinegar, the gourmet of vinegars, can be extremely expensive. It’s aged from 4 to 20 years and is made from a liqueur instead of wine or fruit. The very best comes from Northern Italy and kept under extreme restrictions before it can be called Balsamic Vinegar. The aroma along with the sweet and sour flavor is like no other vinegar. Once you try this delicacy you can see why people will pay from $60 to $250 for ½ ounce. It’s rare to find true Balsamic Vinegar in the United States, there are a lot of brands that claim to be imported Balsamic Vinegar but they are nothing more than cheap imitations with an expensive price tag.

Rice Vinegar is well known as a vinegar delicacy from Japan. It’s made from brown rice and best known for it’s medicinal properties of killing bacteria. It’s been used for centuries to kill the bacteria on fresh fish. Without vinegar there would be no sushi. A famous tonic made in Japan called, Tamago-su, is known to promote a long healthy life with strength building properties and has been used by Samurai warriors for centuries. Eggs are soaked in Rice Vinegar undisturbed for 7 days, during this time the vinegar dissolves the eggs (shell and all), the membrane is mixed with warm water and taken by teaspoon three times a day.

Once you start experimenting with vinegar you’ll quickly discover that it can be made from just about anything. It’s a lot of fun to experiment with varies wines, fruits, barley, rice, beer or herbs and taste your own homemade vinegar. Best of all, homemade vinegar has more nutrients and minerals than commercial. The hardest part of making vinegar is patience. At one time before the late 1800s scientists thought that making vinegar had to be an elaborate process because of all its miraculous claims. Now it’s known that when alcohol is left to ferment it changes to acetic acid and the exposure to air is what brought vinegar into being.

If you do decide to buy your vinegar, buy quality. You can find the best quality of vinegar in your local health food store, or in the organic health food section of your super market. If you’re lucky enough to live near a farming community you might want to try buying your vinegar from your local farmers.

This is only a small example of the interesting verities and vinegar health benefits. Once you start exploring the world of vinegar flavors and experience your own health benefits it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be passing down your own family recipes and miraculous cures.

Source by Patricia Villani