15 Different Types Of Vinegar Explained

Vinegar may not seem like the most exciting pantry staple. You buy a bottle, you put it in the cupboard, and it may stay there for years to come. It doesn't seem as essential as oils, nor as delicious as seasonings. Plus, the many different kinds available can cause confusion.

When should you reach for the white vinegar over sherry vinegar? We may possess a bottle of distilled white vinegar already, but isn't that only used for cleaning? Then there are those like balsamic vinegar, which we seem to bring out for set uses like topping our salads or pizzas. Unless we know how to get creative, malt vinegar stays with our British fish and chips, and rice vinegar may only get used for a Chinese stir-fry.

But we're here to end the uncertainty. When used properly, vinegar is an extremely helpful ingredient. After reading this, you'll learn how to use various types of vinegar — as easily as you already make use of different oils. You'll be confident in numerous vinegar cooking applications. You'll learn about unexpected vinegar uses, from roasting vegetables to making pie crust. Here are 15 different types of vinegar, explained.

Apple cider vinegar is known for its health benefits. According to WebMD, consuming it has been touted as a way to lose weight, increase heart health, and improve digestion. But potential wellness improvements are only one aspect of what's to know about "ACV," as some call it.

The vinegar recipe begins with apples. The preparations of those apples can go a few different ways. You can start by chopping apples and covering them with water, then leaving them to ferment (via Going Zero Waste). Or, you can crush apples into apple juice before fermentation begins (via Bragg). As the starting substance sits, yeast breaks down the sugar in the apples. The sugar is next transformed into alcohol. Then, the alcohol is further fermented into acetic acid. As the University of Chicago explains, this is the process of fermentation used to make the vinegar. Sometimes water is then added to reduce acidity.

This vinegar is commonly used for salad dressings, marinades, and in pickling, per Bragg. It's sometimes combined with baking soda then added to vegan cake or cookie recipes (via Vegan Baking). Not surprisingly, this vinegar can be used to make apple cider doughnuts. If there are several cups on hand, you can even make cocktails like Fire Cider with it. Once opened, apple cider vinegar does not need to be stored in the fridge. Per My Recipes, the USDA recommends using your apple cider vinegar within two years.

Red Wine Vinegar is a common cooking ingredient that you've probably used before. It's used to make vinaigrettes, pickles, and marinades, according to WebMD. Like other types of vinegar, it's a low-calorie pantry staple. There are around six calories per 100 grams of red wine vinegar (via LiveStrong).

This type is one of a few kinds of vinegar made from wine. First red grapes are fermented, becoming red wine; in turn, the red wine ferments once again, creating a sour-tasting liquid, explains The Cookful. After this second process, the resulting vinegar can't get you drunk, though it will still contain trace amounts of alcohol (per Supreme Vinegar, most vinegar types contain between 0.3% and 0.4% ABV. That's around the same amount — or sometimes even less — than is found in kombucha, according to Healthline).

As for other uses in the kitchen, red wine vinegar's properties enable it to do certain things. To start, if you want to turn something slightly pink, red wine vinegar can help with that (via Masterclass). The vinegar imparts hue to whatever it touches. Red wine vinegar can also help in places where tangy, sweet, or fruity flavors are welcome, helping to create a more balanced flavor in savory dishes of red meats, beans, and lentils (via Martha Stewart). 

In this classy-seeming vinegar, there usually isn't any Champagne. This pantry staple is typically made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes (via MasterClass), which — along with Pinot Meunier — are the main varieties used to sometimes make Champagne, per Wine Enthusiast. As Taste Essence explains, champagne vinegar is called such because it's made from the same grapes used to create the celebratory alcoholic beverage. And if you want to find a champagne vinegar that's from France, authentic French champagne vinegar is called "le vinaigre de Reims," explains Easy French Food. The name comes from Reims, a city in the region of France where champagne grapes are grown (via Britannica).

The flavor is the reason to turn to champagne vinegar over other types. The Cookful describes it as a "dry white wine vinegar." You'll add less sweetness to your recipes by choosing this vinegar over others. Brightland says it's milder than white wine vinegar, rice vinegar, or sherry vinegar, making it a great addition to some light vegetable, fruit, chicken, and fish dishes. A squirt of citrus may be more similar to it than other kinds of vinegar — that's how delicate it is. 

Sherry vinegar is often compared to balsamic, which is the more well-known of the two, but not necessarily always the better option. According to Serious Eats, sherry vinegar is more affordable than the Italian stuff (and even some of its cheaper imitations). Despite rules around both vinegars' production, you're more likely to end up finding real sherry vinegar at the grocery store, compared to balsamic. As Bon Appétit says, "the stuff you find in stores labeled sherry vinegar varies comparatively less in quality and has fewer low-quality imitators."

Also like balsamic, sherry vinegar must be made in a particular region of the world. Sherry vinegar, like sherry wine, must legally be produced in the Cádiz region of Spain. Once turned from sherry wine into vinegar, it's made using the "solera" system (per Reluctant Gourmet). During this process, liquids of different ages are blended. To be considered even more legit — and achieve the much-desired designation of "Vinagre de Jerez," which means sherry vinegar — the liquid must undergo additional steps. It must be aged in American oak for a minimum of six months within the "sherry triangle" (an area within Cádiz) and must contain at least 7% acidity.

This vinegar also has unique flavors. The Kitchn reports that the Spanish vinegar's taste is between wine vinegars (which are typically acidic) and balsamic vinegars (which known for tasting bold and powerful) in terms of intensity, calling sherry vinegar "medium-bodied, delicately sweet, and far from overpowering."

Red rice vinegar is one type of rice vinegar. It's distinguished from other kinds of rice vinegar — such as brown rice vinegar and black rice vinegar — by the kind of rice it's made from. According to The Kitchn, red rice vinegar is made from fermented rice called red rice yeast. Sometimes it's also mixed with grains like sorghum and barley. To turn those grains into vinegar, they undergo the same two-step fermentation process as other vinegar types.

The color of red rice vinegar comes from this unique rice mixture. Instead of a clear white, it appears red. Per The Woks of Life, the taste also differs from typical rice vinegar. It's tart and sweet with a flavor similar to wine.

The acidity is also lower than average vinegar types, coming in at around 2.5%. Red rice vinegar is most commonly used for some Chinese congee, broth, and soup recipes. You can sometimes find it under the name "Chinese Red Vinegar" (via Acid League).

This is another vinegar type that's associated with a specific cuisine. In the case of cane vinegar, it's Filipino food. According to Epicurious, cane vinegar is made from molasses. The product originated from the prevalence of sugar refineries in the Philippines. For Filipino recipes, it's used to make popular dishes like adobo or dinuguan (Filipino blood stew). However, cane vinegar is also common in France or Louisiana. You can see its use in the American state in this Southern recipe for glazed chicken.

Per CooksInfo, the process of making cane vinegar begins with sugarcane. Sugarcane is turned into molasses, which is then fermented into vinegar. Then, the process diverges. Higher-end cane vinegars are then aged in oak barrels. Others head straight to bottling. You'll find that the resulting color of cane vinegars ranges from yellow to brown.

Cane vinegar is not known for being sweet. Instead, it has a taste that's "mildly sharp," according to Delighted Cooking. As with other types, cane vinegar is recommended for deglazing purposes (via Recipe Tips). The process of deglazing happens when you pour liquid over a pan to loosen the burning bits from the bottom, allowing both the flavor of the vinegar (and those slightly burnt food pieces) to mix with the rest of your food. Although it may not sound so delicious, it's a method used by trained chefs to enhance their recipes (via Fine Dining Lovers). Vinegars such as cane vinegar are a great liquid to use to do this.

Beer vinegar is vinegar that comes from beer. You may be tempted to recall malt vinegar, which is somewhat similar to beer vinegar — but maybe not much more than other vinegar types are. According to American Vinegar Works, one key difference is in the alcohol used to make malt or beer vinegar. You would never drink the alcohol used to make malt vinegar. However, beer vinegar is typically made from digestible alcoholic brews. Despite their differences, they have things in common, as well. You can use beer vinegar similarly to malt, by splashing your fish and chips with it.

Esquire explains a simple method for making malt vinegar, in which raw apple cider is added to any brew of your choosing. You can even turn drinks like PBR into beer vinegar, using this or other methods. One method described by Supreme Vinegar recommends adding "mother of vinegar" to your beer to begin the process. This is a standard ingredient made of cellulose and acetic acid, and is used to begin fermentation in the process of making many kinds of vinegar (via Vinegar Shed).

You might come across beer vinegar while trying out Nordic recipes, per Honest Food. This recipe of sautéed mushrooms and radishes is one way to test out beer vinegar's uses within Scandinavian cuisine.