KT Achaya, in his book Indian Food: A Historical Companion, talks of how vinegar finds mention in the Buddhist era. He talks of how it was made from a variety of sugar materials such as sugarcane juice, jaggery, honey, jackfruit and black plum ( jamoon ). Fruits were preserved in vinegar or sour kanji ( kanjika — rice water). These fruits included mango, amla and cucumber. Today, there seems to be a revival of sorts in the making of natural vinegar — some call it artisanal vinegar — without using any additives. The list of vinegar varieties available is long, and includes malt vinegar, rice, sugarcane, toddy, coconut, palm toddy, apple cider…
Kolah is one of the oldest brewed vinegars in India, and was started in 1885 by Edalji Kolah. Vistasp Kolah, who runs Rustomji E Kolah, from Navsari, says, “I am the fifth generation to be making this brewed vinegar. The recipe and process are the same as that followed by our forefathers. Fresh sugarcane juice is brought in every day. This is then allowed to ferment naturally in wooden casks.”
An unusual ingredient — toddy from the ice apple tree — is being made into vinegar by Prem Moraes, under the label East Indians. Moraes says, “I am an East Indian of Bombay, and many of our ancestors were toddy tappers. Today, there is a negative connotation for toddy — synonymous with illicit country liquor. The profession of tapping is on the decline. Toddy, if not consumed within 24 hours, gets fermented, and in a few days time becomes liquor — I am not denying that. However, if consumed within 24 hours, it not only has a lot of health benefits, but also, at that stage, can be processed into a lot of value-added products.” One of them is vinegar.
Goa-based Goana, makes vinegar from coconut. This is the traditional coconut vinegar which is used in Goanese cooking, and often made at home. Several farmer groups from Kerala also offer coconut vinegar. From the apple bowl of India, Himachal Pradesh, comes the apple cider vinegar. HPMC (Himachal Pradesh Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation) makes an excellent apple cider vinegar which is fully natural.
Quirky methods
The making of vinegar has its nuances: there are quirky stories, little nuggets which throw light on the process, and explain how particular makers are about quality. For Vineet Kaushik, AGM, food technologist, HPMC, explains, “Our apple cider vinegar is made in two stages, using fresh apple juice or apple concentrate made by us in-house. First, the juice is allowed to ferment by the addition of a fine strain of yeast. This takes a week, but we try and slow it down, so it is extended to about 15 days. In the second stage the fermented juice is converted into acetic acid — vinegar using acetobacters. This process takes a minimum of three months and is done in huge steel drums.”
The whole process of making the vinegar takes between three to four months. Kaushik continues, “Once this is done, it is filtered and filled into bottles. We do not do fine filtration and particles of apple remain, as consumers like this texture of vinegar.”
Moraes, on the other hand, says, “It takes a month-and-a-half to make good quality vinegar from toddy. I procure fresh unadulterated toddy, directly from farmers. This is then set to processing immediately.”
Kolah explains, “The wooden casks that we use were made during our forefathers’ time, out of Burma teak. The sugarcane is left to be fermented in these casks in the sun. It takes three to four months for the vinegar to be ready naturally. There are two varieties, one is darker, made after caramelisation, which gives the vinegar a natural brown colour. The other is the natural colour. The choice of vinegar depends on where you want to use it.”
So where is the vinegar used? It is used for pickling, on salads, in cooking meat, fish… “Sosyo, a popular aerated drink, uses dark vinegar,” says Kolah. Almost all well-known Parsi restaurants, caterers and the community use Kolah. He says, “It was typically used for fish dishes. We are supplying to ITC, where the vinegar is used in their restaurants...”
Moraes says, “Toddy vinegar is a probiotic. It is an excellent meat tenderiser: marinating meat in it is a good beginning for vindaloo.”
India is a vast storehouse of vinegar sources yet to be tapped. Rice vinegar, a part of Asian cooking, is not made in India. Jaggery vinegar, different versions of sugarcane... the potential is unlimited.
