Acid Trip: Travels in the World of Vinegar

Early in his fascination with vinegar, Turkell, an award-winning food photographer and writer, discovered “an abundance of literature on vinegar’s restorative health and cleaning powers, but very little on how it’s produced for culinary purposes.” Acid Trip is an effort to correct that imbalance.

Turkell’s instructions for making vinegar take up only a small part of the book. But to someone inspired by the idea of unleashing acetobacter on alcohol produced by fermented starch, they are extremely adaptable to making vinegar from everything from wine and beer to maple syrup, honey, or even mashed tubers. You’ll have to be willing to geek out a little to do this well—a hydrometer and pH strips are most useful, as are careful records.

However, if you decide that simply enjoying vinegar is really your thing, then Turkell’s world tour of vinegars and their uses will fascinate you. As you meet vinegar makers and enthusiasts from France, Italy, Austria, Japan and North America and experience their passion and their recipes, you will probably be persuaded to geek out enough to try making your own.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.