Vinegar

[floridanative]

I have gone through everything in my house last night and today with the Delphi list. However, when it comes to products containing vinegar it keeps saying for example 'Kraft believes all vinegar to be gluten-free, no matter the source'. Could anyone shed some light on this please? I have pickles, relish, bbq sauce and such that seem gluten-free except for the vinegar. I use balsamic vinegar to make my own salad dressings as well. I've read posts about vinegar but if there is a clear answer on it, I missed it completely. Thanks in advance if anyone can help.

[tarnalberry]

Vinegar can be made from just about any grain, including wheat. But distilled vinegar come from an alcohol that goes through the distillation process, which is a chemical/physical process that separates heavy/large molecules from small/light ones. This process prevents any of the extremely heavy (in comparison) protein molecules from being in the final vinegar product. (Fun fact: the word 'vinegar' comes from the french 'vinaigre' which means 'sour wine'.)

Some people may still not deal well with vinegar, for other, non-gluten reasons, however. And any vinegar that has things added to it *after* distillation, like apple-cider FLAVORED vinegar (different from apple cider vinegar) and malt vinegar, may have gluten added back in and are not safe. (Those two, in particular, are not safe.)

Things like wine or champagne vinegar (be it balsamic, red wine, white wine, etc.) are made from grape based alcohols go through the same fermentation process that the distilled alcohol goes through. Some cheap "balsamic vinegars" have things like caramel color added to them, which could be unsafe, but pure balsamic vinegar will not have such additions.

In the US, an ingredient label that says "vinegar" must be referring to apple cider vinegar, which is safe.

[floridanative]

Wow! Thanks for explaining this so thoroughly. My balsamic vinegar is pure w/nothing added and not cheap so I'm glad I didn't throw it out this morning. And also, my pickles and relish for that matter. I actually thought of you today when I was perusing the 'health food isle' in Publix for gluten-free stuff and they had some flours you have mentioned on your recipe posts. I don't like bread or cake enough to bake from scratch so I'm getting a bread machine and some mix that is sold here as some out of the way health food store (everyone on this board who buys mixes recommends this brand but the name escapes me now). I think eating at home will be easy since we already eat lots of fresh veggies, meats and fruits but traveling is a way of life and eating out is part of that. I don't mind cutting back eating out to very rarely when we're in town but just never eating out.....I don't know how I'd handle that.

Thanks again and I love your fun fact!