Homemade vinegar: For starters, it's easy to do

Making your own vinegar is not complicated, thank goodness, but it does require a  good starter. Seattle Times food writer, Nancy Leson, tells KPLU's Erin Hennessey how she makes her own red wine vinegar and why it's so special.

Like many of us, Nancy has different types of vinegar lining her shelves at home. But none is as pretty as the red wine vinegar she makes herself. Garnet red, it wakes up the taste buds with a rush of tang and bold red wine flavors.

A recipe for DIY vinegar that Nancy likes comes from The Canal House Cooks Everyday. And the starter she uses comes from The Cellar Homebrew store, just south of the Shoreline border.

Using vinegar on salads and for dipping bread is great, says Nancy, but a good vinegar also freshens up all types of cooking, including tomato sauces and sauteed chicken breasts. It's also become popular in non-alcoholic drinks.

Portland restaurant pok pok has come out with a  variety of vinegar drinks, many of which can be found in specialty stores in the Seattle area.

For more of a drill down on the art of vinegar making, check out Nancy's article in The Seattle Times. She admits that it takes months to produce tasty vinegar, but most of that time the vinegar-in-the-making is just hiding in a corner away from direct sunlight.

In other words, not a lot of effort for what Nancy says is vinegar  "whose flavor is umpteen times better than the store-bought brand."