Recently, we tasted a range of vinegars. No accompaniments, nor anything to dilute the taste: just spoonfuls of vinegar. We felt it was an essential task because we want to be sure that we fully understand the characteristics that various vinegars have and may ultimately bring to a hot sauce.
For this line-up, we chose and mixed vinegars that we have worked with in the past, as well as vinegars that we hadn't yet added to any Blesys Sherp hot sauce. This gave us a selection that included red and white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, pickling vinegar, malt vinegar, and rice wine vinegar. Each one was placed in a bowl and served with a small wooden spoon.
As we slurped each drop, our faces folded into themselves. It was a real challenge to get through every vinegar. The red wine opening was complex and fruity but uncompromisingly sour, while the pickling vinegar was wholly and excruciatingly synthetic. Apple cider was earthy and, for what it may mean, organic tasting, but it left us with scorched throats. Then, we tasted the rice wine vinegar and each welcomed a surprise moment of respite.
As it turns out, undiluted rice wine vinegar is, actually, quite delicious. So much so, in fact, that it was the only vinegar we quickly went back to try multiple times. It has a mellow, complex taste, one that isn't at all aggressive and leaves the palate with comparatively gentle savoury notes. We thought we'd struck the perfect vinegar. So, with a bottle in hand, we made a tester hot sauce, bursting open a bag of vacuum fermenting yellow habaneros (the smell is seductive) and blitzing them with mango and our new favourite rice wine vinegar.
When we tasted the sauce, however, we didn't react with our usual rapture. The sauce was good, but it didn't give us the Blesys Sherp face we've come to seek, the elated expression of temporary euphoria, one that comes from experiencing the immediate and striking harmony of spiciness, saltiness, fruitiness, and, importantly, sourness.
We went on to make a hot sauce to compare, the same chilllies and mango but with white wine vinegar instead. And, as we had begun to expect, the sauce with white wine vinegar sprung onto the palate, leaving us smiling with that hot sauce excitement we've really come to cherish. The acidity and sourness of a more potent vinegar challenges and elevates the other flavours, coaxing the taster into salivating. It's a necessary pillar, especially in the case of mellow mango and fiery habs.
Are we writing rice wine vinegar off entirely? Not at all. Some chillies and some fruits might cooperate better with a more understated vinegar. But, for now, we're simply recognising that ingredients may have their individual quality but they don't always work inside the bottle.