Ten tips from Begoña Rodrigo for creating your own range of mother vinegars

Why is it that key ingredients for achieving excellent results in the kitchen are not often given importance? One of them is vinegar, which not only provides complex acidic nuances in dressings but is also essential in the preparation of sauces, marinades, and pickled products.

Fortunately, there are chefs with a special sensitivity like Begoña Rodrigo (La Salita, Valencia) who has understood the importance of this ingredient and has created her own range of mother vinegars in recent years. Vinegars that she flavors and infuses with nuances to personally enrich each dish, dessert, and even cocktail served in the restaurant.

One of their unique features is that a mother vinegar is formed, a SCOBY of bacteria similar to those used to make kombuchas. The action of these SCOBYS allows each vinegar to evolve uniquely.

Begoña Rodrigo tells us in so good.. magazine 34 about the process required for their production and tells us about some of the paths she’s exploring based on mother vinegars. We share ten interesting tips below.

Photos, Sara Castaño

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Aspects to consider when making mother vinegars

• Once the scoby has formed, it is very easy to continue making vinegars. It is like sourdough that is alread active. You can activate other vinegars with that scoby or with the ugly part that remains at the bottom of the jar where the vinegar rests. Be aware that this ugly part, which is usually thrown away at home, can be used to make another vinegar.
• During the process, a film forms on the surface of the liquid, similar to sherry. For this reason, it is a good idea to stir the vinegar from time to time to activate the scoby with oxygen.
• It is important to take into account the amount of sugar in the ingredients that will give the vinegar its personality. Tiger nuts, for example, contain a lot of sugar and quickly generate a lot of scoby.
• When enriching mothers of vinegar with new ingredients, it is preferable to choose those with a more neutral and pleasant flavor, such as apple. At La Salita, this vinegar is then flavored with passion fruit and cardamom with excellent results.
• On the other hand, due to their strong flavor, it is not recommended to flavor vinegars such as raspberry and red berries.
• It is very important to filter vinegars well if you want to store them. At La Salita, they strain them and then decant them through a superbag, but more finely, overnight. If any ‘impurities’ are left behind, the vinegar may continue to evolve.
• To stop the fermentation process, the filtered vinegars must be vacuum-packed and stored in the refrigerator at a constant temperature of 3ºC.
• The most common mistakes occur with excessive fermentation, when the vinegar evolves very quickly. The acidity is very evident and the taste is not elegant.
• It is recommended that the dehydrated fruits be natural. Industrial dehydrated fruits have added sugars, which will cause excessive fermentation. It is recommended that you use sun-dehydrated fruits, if possible. The resulting dehydrated fruit is sweeter and lasts longer.
• Depending on the sugar content of the fruit, the scoby will grow and thicken more or less quickly. Keep in mind that as it thickens, it will consume the vinegar. This is where a decision comes into play: whether you are looking for the scoby or the vinegar. This is because scoby is also finding interesting culinary applications.

Discover the process of making mother vinegars, the acidity ranges of the vinegars made at La Salita, and these recipes by Begoña Rodrigo in so good.. magazine 34