The Offbeat Indulgence of Handmade Vinegar

Each bucket of vinegar begins with a single ingredient, which Crawford uses to make a mash, adding water, sugar, and yeast as needed. She also blends in a bit of “mother”—the placenta-like collection of cellulose that forms in anything fermented—from a previous batch, which contains enough finished vinegar, rich in bacteria and fungi, to inoculate a new batch. The mixture ferments over a period of days or weeks, turning alcoholic as the yeast eats the sugar, then ferments again, over some months, becoming vinegar.