Preserve it! About That Vinegar- Read the Label! 

By Laurie Lewis, UCCE Master Food Preserver of El Dorado County

Published in Mountain Democrat November 27, 2024

There’s a concern that, in the past few years, we have been seeing white vinegar with 4-percent acidity on store shelves. All our tested, safe recipes for home food preservation use 5-percent acidity vinegars. This one percent drop makes a big difference in preserving and pickling your foods safely. Vinegar below 5-percent is not adequate to control microbial growth in your home canning.

Here’s the problem: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “only” requires vinegar to contain at least/at minimum 4-percent acetic acid (not 5-percent). There are some specialty vinegars which may range up to 8-percent, some quite expensive. Recipes generally are not written for these high percent vinegars (usually because of cost, color, cloudiness, or sharpness).

Safe, 5-percent vinegar is still for sale, but may be shelved next to vinegars that are not considered safe for canning and preserving. Read. The. Label.

Most likely the reason we are now seeing 4-percent vinegar is a cost factor with the manufacturers.

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