Over the past few years it seems we’ve gone pickling mad. Preserved vegetables are being used in all sorts of Michelin-starred restaurants (perhaps a result of New Nordic cuisine sweeping the world), we’re making our own jars of onions, cucumbers and carrots instead of buying them in the shops and a whole host of exotic spices are being used to flavour pickling liquors. But not all vinegars are the same and various varieties produce different flavours. Malt vinegar might not be the first choice for preservers, but its unique characteristics make it an ingredient not to be overlooked when pickling at home.
Sarson’s is the name everyone associates with malt vinegar and for good reason – the company has over 200 years of heritage making the product and is the only traditional malt vinegar producer in the UK (and possibly the world) still using wooden vats to gently age and develop its taste; just as they do for world-class whisky. A world away from ‘non-brewed condiment’ – produced via a petrochemical route – which is often the choice in fish and chip shops, Sarson’s’ vinegar is all natural with a much more pronounced intensity and depth of flavour.