What Is Chip Shop Vinegar Made From
Okay, that's it. Our trust has been broken. Our belief in the world is in shattered pieces on the floor. Everything is awful.
We could just about handle the parmesan revelation (no, it's not actually parmesan). We slowly learned to accept that the lobster we put in our mouths isn't actually lobster. Even learning that we've never eaten real wasabi wasn't enough to push us past our breaking point.
But this is too damn far. This bit of information messes with the very fabric of British culture. This changes everything.
YouTuber Tom Scott has revealed to us all that the vinegar with which we douse our chips in fish and chip shopsisn't actually vinegar.NOOOO.
Yup. It's true.
Tom explains that the majority of fish and chip shops aren't actually giving you vinegar, but a fake vinegar stand-in called 'non-brewed condiment'. Sounds tasty.
Non-brewed condiment is a mixture of water, ethanoic acid, and various food colourings and flavourings chosen to make the mixture look and taste a lot like vinegar.
But it isn't vinegar. It isn't vinegar at all.
To be clear, fish and chip shops aren't just using fake vinegar to mess with your head. Making 'non-brewed condiment' is quite a bit cheaper and less time-consuming than brewing vinegar.
Some mad visionary has invented a fish and chip flavoured ice cream
There are some other benefits to using non-brewed condiment. You can buy it in concentrate (which is handy in terms of storage and transportation), it's halal, as it doesn't have the alcohol that's present in brewed vinegar, and some brands are gluten-free. Hooray.
What's in fish and chip shop 'vinegar'?
- Ethanoic acid: also known as acetic acid, ehtanoic acid gives food a sharp, tangy taste and also acts as a preservative. This is diluted with water.
- Brown food colouring: Ethanoic acid is clear, so food colouring is added to give the mix the appearance of vinegar.
- Caramel or malt-y flavouring (sometimes): Some brands will use sugar, caramel, or artificial flavouring to intensify the vinegar-y flavour.
Plus it tastes pretty similar to malt vinegar. There's just a subtle difference. Perhaps one that will be intensified by an overwhelming feeling that the world is a place filled with with lies and cheap substitutes for real things.
The rules regarding non-brewed condiment are pretty strict. Legally it can never be described as 'vinegar' – because it's NOT VINEGAR, DAMN IT – and it's not even supposed to be served in little vinegar bottles, in an attempt to protect consumers from this deception.
But, as Tom Scott explains, the rules aren't really upheld due to there being much bigger issues for legal-type people to sort out.
That means fish and chip shops regularly put non-brewed condiment in little vinegar style bottles, will happily refer to the sauce as 'vinegar', and won't even mention the truth as a fun fact when we're ordering our haddock and chips. Because they don't give a f***.
This also means that if you only ever use the 'vinegar' offered in fish and chip shops, you may havenever actually tasted real vinegar. Oh good Lord.
In short: everything is a lie, trust no condiment.
MORE : 24 surprising facts about fish and chips (including how they helped defeat Hitler)
MORE : This is the ultimate fish and chips recipe and it's really easy to make
MORE : 'Healthy' fish and chips are finally here and we're hungry for it
What Is Chip Shop Vinegar Made From
Source: https://metro.co.uk/2016/07/26/the-vinegar-youre-using-at-fish-and-chip-shops-isnt-really-vinegar-6030451/
0 Response to "What Is Chip Shop Vinegar Made From"
Post a Comment