Is Vinegar Okay for Kids?

Is vinegar always made from wine, including apple cider vinegar or raspberry vinegar? We also like balsamic vinegar. Can I use these vinegars for the children or what alternatives are there?

Vinegar is a sour tasting condiment and preservative. When vinegar is formed, vinegar bacteria always convert alcohol (e.g. wine or sherry) into acetic acid and water with the help of oxygen.

Due to natural fermentation processes, there are small amounts of alcohol in some foods, usually less than 1 percent by volume, without this being particularly noticeable in terms of taste or having to be declared. In vinegar this is about 0.2 – 1.5% by volume.

Vinegars such as “raspberry vinegar” or “apple vinegar” are specified as to what they may be made from. For apple cider vinegar, apples are pressed into cider. This is then fermented to apple cider vinegar with the addition of acetic acid bacteria. Raspberry vinegar is often based on wine vinegar with an extract of raspberries or is made directly from fermented raspberries or fermented raspberry juice.

Balsamic vinegar (Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale) consists of the thickly boiled down grape must of the Trebbiano grape and matures for at least twelve years in wooden barrels, for example oak, ash or chestnut barrels. Then it has a sweet and sour spiciness reminiscent of old heavy wine. The industrially produced Aceto Balsamico is cheaper.

Ingesting a small amount of vinegar in a salad dressing is safe for children. Especially since vinegar is not usually eaten in large quantities – and probably cannot be eaten either, because the acidity would probably lead to severe nausea.

As an alternative to vinegar, you can use lemon juice, orange juice or rhubarb juice, depending on how you use it.