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Vinegar from Orléans, France

Orléans method (slow surface vinegar)vinaigre d'Orléans

Orléans vinegar is wine turned to vinegar slowly in part-filled barrels. Acetic acid bacteria working at the surface, under a film called the mother, oxidise the alcohol to acetic acid, and part of the vinegar is drawn off and replaced with fresh wine so the barrel keeps going.

Fully documentedVinegar6.7 months – 18 months

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceNC State Extension home method. The amounts are targets (the alcohol strength and a container about two-thirds full), not a fixed batch size.
WineDiluted to 5.5–7 % alcoholTable wine of 11–12 % alcohol is cut with water first[ncsu2022]
WaterTo dilute the wine[ncsu2022]
Mother of vinegar or a vinegar cultureA pure culture is safer than leaving wine open to the air; in the barrel, the vinegar left after each draw carries the culture on[ncsu2022]
Startermother of vinegar (the biofilm of acetic acid bacteria on the surface) or a pure culture; vinegar left in the barrel starts the next round

Total time across the recorded steps: 6.7 months – 18 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Water cuts the wine down to the strength the vinegar bacteria handle best

Step 1 of 7
Dilute the wine
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Acetobacter pasteurianus
K. europaeus
Acetobacter aceti
Acetic acid bacteria
Acetobacter

Output: diluted wine.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Orléans vinegar is wine turned to vinegar slowly in part-filled barrels. Acetic acid bacteria working at the surface, under a film called the mother, oxidise the alcohol to acetic acid, and part of the vinegar is drawn off and replaced with fresh wine so the barrel keeps going. Made in 7 steps over 6.7 months – 18 months. The longest step, acetification under the mother, takes 21 days – 12 months (NC State Extension 2022) and runs at 27–29 °C (NC State Extension 2022). Acetobacter pasteurianus and Komagataeibacter europaeus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step21 days – 12 monthsReported[ncsu2022][mas2014]Acetification under the mother
Temperature27–29 °CReported[ncsu2022]Acetification under the mother

What makes this one different

The Orléans method is the slow surface method. Bacteria work only where the wine meets the air in a part-filled barrel, under an undisturbed mother, and part of the vinegar is drawn off and replaced with wine through a funnel to the bottom. Quick methods trickle wine over wood shavings or blow air through it, which takes about a week or 24-hour cycles but loses aroma.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Home jar methodDiluted wine in a cloth-covered jar two-thirds full; done in 3–4 weeks.
  • Cider and beer vinegarsThe same surface method with cider or beer in place of wine.

Made the orléans method way

Other orléans method kinds

Made the same way, each with what its own sources record.

Other vinegars (catalogue)

Vinegar

These vinegars share one process and differ in what is fermented first. FAO notes that almost any raw material that will undergo an alcoholic fermentation can be made into vinegar, from fruit and honey to cereals, hydrolysed starches, beer and wine [fao1998]. EU rules set at least 6 % (w/v) acidity for wine vinegar and at most 1.5 % (v/v) residual ethanol [mas2014].

Sources: Battcock M.; Mas A.; Wikipedia; Wikipedia

Safety

Home vinegar is of unknown strength. Extension guidance based on NCHFP says canning and pickling need vinegar of 5 % acidity, so do not use homemade vinegar there unless its acidity is known. Make it in glass, stainless steel or enamel, because vinegar leaches metal from iron and aluminium. The FDA treats any vinegar eels in bottled vinegar as adulteration, and opened vinegar can grow mould.

Hazards the sources name: Vinegar eels (tiny nematodes); any in bottled vinegar make it adulterated (FDA); Moulds on opened, pasteurised vinegar.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

In 1732 Boerhaave noted that the mother of vinegar was a living organism. Kützing made the first microscopic observation of acetic acid bacteria in 1837, and Pasteur claimed in 1864 that the veil of Mycoderma aceti on the surface turns wine into vinegar [mas2014].

  1. [mas2014] Mas A., Torija M.J., García-Parrilla M.C., Troncoso A.M. 2014, Acetic acid bacteria and the production and quality of wine vinegar, The Scientific World Journal 2014:394671, doi:10.1155/2014/394671paper
  2. [ncsu2022] NC State Extension 2022, Vinegar Making (home method and the Orléans process)gov
  3. [fda-cpg] US FDA, Compliance Policy Guide Sec. 525.825, Vinegar, definitions - adulteration with vinegar eels (1995)gov
  4. [oiv-vinegar] OIV, International Code of Oenological Practices, sheet I.6.11 Wine vinegarspec
  5. [WP:Vinegar] Wikipedia, Vinegar (outline only; used for the place name Orléans and for the city's fame for its vinegar)wiki
  6. [sdsu2024] Braun C. 2024, Safety concern with vinegar acidity level in home canning, South Dakota State University Extension (citing USDA NCHFP)gov