The best balsamic vinegar is aged for years, isn't it? I wouldn't hesitate to decant it from the sediment and use it.

Jim

As long as it smells o.k. and tastes o.k., I wouldn't worry about it either. Vinegar is, after all, something of a living thing...and we all go through changes as we get older. :)

I agree, it's fine if it smells and tastes OK, it's vinegar. I've also noticed the sediment and I know that vinegar has a "mother" that forms, I'm wondering if that sediment could be a form of the "mother".

Annie

That stuff is "mother of vinegar"...it's the beasties that make vinegar out of wine.
Decant the vinegar and use it...or just ignore the slime.
all un pasteurized vinegar develops Mother.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: mother of vinegar

I've seen plenty of mother in vinegar and even though it may be okay to strain and use I just couldn't do it. No way!

Well...other vinegar you use once had it in and was strained and pasteurized before it for to you....what's the difference?

I keep batches of red and white wine vinegar "growing" in my pantry. When the "mother" really gets going, it looks fair disgusting, but I do love my vinegars! So much richer, more flavorful and cheaper than store bought. Pretty easy to maintain, too, vinegar is very forgiving.

Rachelellen, Would you mind posting that process? I'd love to take a stab at making vinegar.

You can buy "mother of vinegar" in health food stores and from places that stock wine making supplies, etc. I did it the hard way, and just left a jar of red wine out with the lid off (but protected from flies etc, with some cheese cloth) until wild spores found their way in.

The white wine was harder to start for some reason (I'd read that it likely would be) so I bought a bottle of cider vinegar with live mother of vinegar from a health food store and mixed some of that in to the jug of wine. Nothing happened for a couple of weeks (except for evaporation) and I finally fished a piece of the mother out of my red wine vinegar, rinsed it as thoroughly as I could and plopped it into the white wine.

Dunno if that's what did it or if the cultures in the cider vinegar finally got going...maybe a combination of both...but after a couple more weeks, I could smell the vinegar aroma and that the mommy was growing was evident.

I'm afraid I don't follow the rather rigid steps I've seen listed on some websites as to how to feed the mommy etc. When I've a bit of leftover wine, I pour it in. When my vinegar carafe needs filling, I strain some. If the mommy gets too plentiful, I strain it out and let it start growing anew. So far, I've had enough red and white wine vinegar for my uses, enough mommy to hand 'round to friends who want to start making their own, and I haven't made anybody ill. The jugs sit on the floor, in a dark corner of my pantry, covered with cheesecloth (mommy needs to breath) and if I haven't used/replaced/fed in a while, I add a bit of water to replace that lost from evaporation.

I'm sorry, I know this isn't very helpful. I'm sure someone else could give you more detailed directions.

Just 'cause I saw it Linda and it looks yucky.

Thanks Rachelellen. I'll post when I attempt it. Leftover wine may be a problem as there usually isn't any here, unless it's something that I didn't care for in the first place. Is it safe to assume that if I didn't like the wine, I won't like the vinegar that it's made from?

No, good and bad (in terms of preference, not wines that have actually gone bad) moogle together in the vinegar jug and work out fine for vinegar.

I keep one each of box wines, a white and a red in my pantry for cooking, pouring over ice in Tiki cups for pool-floating purposes, and feed for my vinegar in between better leftovers from parties. If my husband and I open a good bottle for ourselves, we generally drink most of it.

In any case, even El Cheapo wine is going to make a better wine vinegar than you can buy in the store.