10 Types of Vinegar Every Cook Should Know

As Samin Nosrat explained in her seminal 2017 cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, acid is a fundamental ingredient in any dish.

“Acid brightens food and creates contrast,” she wrote in the book. “Most importantly, acid does the absolutely necessary job of balancing flavors, which makes it indispensable to cooking delicious food.”

One of the most useful and versatile sources of acid is vinegar. But there are many types of vinegar available to home cooks, each with their own flavors and uses. To help choose the right vinegar for everything from pickling to pan sauces, we reached out to Rodrigo Vargas, CEO of American Vinegar Works, a small-batch vinegar producer founded in Worcester, Massachusetts.

What is vinegar? 

To make vinegar, you only need a few things, says Vargas: “alcohol, heat, oxygen, and acetobacter, which is a natural bacteria that converts the alcohol to acid.” Vinegar is traditionally made from alcoholic beverages that we drink, like hard cider, beer, sake, and wine. In fact, if you’ve ever left a bottle of red wine out that began to sour, it was on its way to becoming homemade vinegar.

While American Vinegar Works makes all its vinegars this traditional way, says Vargas, it’s increasingly rare. The method takes time, so larger companies often make a highly acidic industrial vinegar and dilute it. Though faster, “you lose the subtle flavors that develop with slower fermentation,” says Vargas.

Here are 10 basic categories of vinegar, how they’re made, and how to make the most of them in the kitchen.

Distilled white vinegar

White vinegar, or distilled vinegar, is the only variety on this list that almost always must be made industrially. That’s because it’s made from distilled alcohol.

“Generally, you take a super high-proof neutral alcohol and, using industrial fermentation methods, turn it into a high-acid vinegar, which you then dilute down to typically 5% acidity,” says Vargas. 

The value of this industrial process? Because distilled vinegar is made with a neutral spirit, it is free of flavors that will affect your final dish. As such, distilled vinegar can be used in dozens of ways, from making cakes lighter to helping set whites in poached eggs. It’s a reliable choice for canned pickles, as it tends to be affordable for large batches, won’t affect the vegetable’s color, and is safe for canning at 5% acidity.

Nicolás López Pelaz, chef at New York’s Mercado Little Spain, suggests using distilled vinegar to cure fish. “Spaniards are the kings of escabeches. That means to pickle something in vinegar,” he says. “Usually, you mix half water, half vinegar, and a good amount of salt to cure small fishes like anchovies, or small mackerels.”

Apple cider vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is made traditionally from hard cider, and offers an acidity from 5% to 6%. Its fruity, apple-forward taste is well suited for salad dressings, quick pickles, or in a marinade for chicken, says Vargas. 

He also suggests using it to make switchel, a traditional beverage sometimes called Haymaker’s Punch. “It’s a mix of apple cider vinegar, ginger, water, and something sweet, like maple or molasses,” says Vargas. People used to drink it while harvesting hay to rehydrate.” 

“As a former North Carolinian, apple cider is the basis of any barbecue sauce or mop sauce that I make,” adds chef April McGreger of The People’s Kitchen. “In fact, the next time you buy a bottle of overly sweet barbecue sauce from the supermarket, try this: Divide the sauce between two jars and top up with an equal part [of] apple cider vinegar, plus some salt and pepper. So much better!”

Rice vinegar

Made traditionally from rice wine (or sake), rice vinegar is among the least acidic varieties, at just over 4%. This quality makes it ideal when you want a gentle hit of acid that won’t overpower other ingredients. 

Rice vinegar works wonderfully in salad dressings like our Whole Lemon Vinaigrette, but it’s also great for making quick pickles with high-quality cucumbers or sliced vegetables. It highlights the quality of the produce, rather than its sourness. McGreger suggests using rice vinegar in traditional Asian and Hawaiian dishes. “I make a lot of poke bowls and onigiri, because it is the perfect easy beach fare,” she says.

Sherry vinegar 

If rice wine vinegar tends to be mildly acidic, sherry vinegar, made from fortified wine, is on the other end of the spectrum — it contains about 6% to 8% acid. 

“I think for tenderizing meat, sherry vinegar is great — especially red meat,” says Vargas. “The sherry gives marinades a bit of nuttiness that’s really tasty.” Vargas also recommends sherry vinegar in traditional Spanish dishes like Gazpacho.

White wine vinegar 

Wine vinegars tend to be middle-of-the-road in terms of acidity, around 5%, and as such are extremely versatile. 

Generic white wine vinegar can be found easily at grocery stores, but varieties made from Champagne, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio or other grapes or regions offer more specific flavors.

Charles Olalia, chef at Dallas’s Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, is fond of Champagne vinegar. “Being Filipino, it’s a must-have in our pantry,” he says. “I use Champagne vinegar as a base ingredient in our adobo and BBQ marinades.”

Well-balanced and light in color, white wine vinegar is a good choice for marinating poultry, says Vargas. “A white wine vinegar is nice for, say, chicken breasts, where another vinegar may lend an off-putting color to the dish. It becomes more of a visual thing,” he says.

He also recommends it for vinaigrettes. “My mom actually only likes using white wine vinegar [for salad dressing],” he says. “She doesn’t like the color of the red on green lettuce.” 

“I sometimes like to use white wine vinegar to make fruity vinegars for salad dressings,” says McGreger. “Strawberries and raspberries are particularly aromatic and have a gorgeous color. Stuff the clean fruit in a pint jar and cover with white wine vinegar. Add three tablespoons of sugar. Let [it] sit for six weeks, then strain and use to make a simple fruit vinaigrette. You’ve also just made a simple shrub that is delicious added to sparkling water.”

Red wine vinegar

As with white wine vinegar, both generic blended versions and highly specific red wine vinegars, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir, are available. American Vinegar Works makes its red wine vinegar with California Syrah, bottled at 5% acidity.

Red wine vinegar is probably most popular as a staple of vinaigrette dressings and marinades, but Vargas recommends experimenting with it. “If you’re pickling onions, I think red wine vinegar is great because it colors the onions and adds flavor to them as well,” he says. “It’s also great in cocktails.” 

It’s also not to be overlooked as a marinade, for pan sauces, or as a way to brighten soups and stews.

Balsamic vinegar

“Traditional balsamic vinegars are made a little differently than other vinegars,” says Vargas. Like white wine vinegars, they typically start with the juice of white grapes, he says. “But while it’s still juice, before it’s been fermented, you cook it down to concentrate the sugars. Then they use a yeast that specifically can work in high-sugar environments that convert a certain percentage of the sugars over to alcohol,” he says. 

The alcohol can be converted to acid, but the liquid is typically quite sweet. At this point, it’s aged in barrels for a minimum of 12 years.

To make sure you get traditionally made balsamic, look for “Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena” or “Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia” on the label. 

“Most of the stuff you’re going to buy, even with that little origin stamp on it, is made a different way,” says Vargas. “What they’re doing is producing wine vinegar and blending it together with that cooked syrup. Sometimes they put in flavorants. Sometimes they put in thickeners or colorants.” 

The thick, syrupy texture of balsamic vinegar and its combination of sweet and sour flavors work well in marinades and vinaigrettes. It also lends itself to sweet foods like chocolate pots-de-crème or pickled figs.

Claudio Foschi, head chef at Oyamel in Washington, D.C., uses inexpensive balsamic vinegar to make syrup. “I like to reduce it with a little sugar until it’s nice and syrupy. I use it for desserts, to top ice creams, on nice, ripe fruit like strawberries or peaches, or on soft cheese like ricotta.”

What about white balsamic vinegar? It’s made similarly to its darker counterpart, but the grapes are cooked for a shorter time to prevent caramelization. The golden-hued vinegar has similar notes to dark balsamic vinegar, but it’s brighter, tangier, and slightly less sweet.

Malt vinegar

Malt vinegar is made traditionally with beer. This toasty, slightly sweet vinegar typically has 5% to 6% acidity.

“We make two different types of beer malt vinegars: one from an IPA, and one from a porter,” says Vargas. He says that many popular malt vinegars aren’t made from beer these days, but an industrial malt mash that isn’t made to be consumed. 

“I find you get a lot more subtlety and flavor when you start with something people would actually want to drink,” he says.

Malt vinegar is a traditional accompaniment to fish and chips. It also pairs well with strong flavors such as mustard, as in a spicy mustard dip for pretzels or sausage. McGreger suggests usings it in British-style chutneys.

“I find our porter malt vinegar works really well with cheeses,” says Vargas. “I like to use it in fondue. Our IPA works well with sautéed mushrooms.”

Black vinegar

Black vinegar is made by fermenting whole grains like sorghum, barley, or sticky rice. This umami-forward, malty vinegar originated in China, but it’s used in other Asian cuisines like Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese. Black vinegars are aged typically for at least six months and up to several years, sometimes in clay pots, which accounts for their deep color and rich, malty flavor.

The most well-known brand is Chinkiang (Zhengiang). It’s made with glutinous rice and malt, and it possesses rich molasses notes. Any variety of black vinegar is delicious in dipping sauces for dumplings or brushed onto grilled dishes.

Honey vinegar

Made from mead, honey vinegar is not as widely available, but Vargas says it’s worth tracking down. “We follow the same process [as with our other vinegars], fermenting it slowly, then we age it in used whiskey barrels to help mellow the vinegar out,” he says.

Use honey vinegar much as you would white balsamic, where its natural sweetness can brighten a buttercream, add tang to a fruit cobbler, or take a caramelized onion jam to the next level.