Fermentation Series: Vinegar

The Human Microbiome Project claims we are not alone, at a ratio that ranges from 3:1 to 1:1 human to nonhuman cells. But even the largest, most animallike members of the human microbiome—think hookworms—are tough to regard as cozy companions. Still, I want to nourish all, for my sake. Enter vinegar and gulp down a sour tonic for health: a raspberry-vinegar shrub, apple-cider switchel, or variations thereof.

Did you know that vinegars can be virgin born? A vinegar may be immaculately conceived from wine, aided only by bacteria floating in the ether or on the feet of flies. Then it produces its own mother, a robust and weighty mass, dense like liver, that sinks down to anchor even the most fragile carafe. In Austronesian languages, it is interesting to note, the word for liver bears the emotional weight of heart.1

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1But a vinegar mother	                                      sometimes fails
                                        to form a solid mass.	                 It may float aimlessly

in the bottle                    appearing as frayed threads        plies unraveling
                     the brew clouded.	                    Many years ago, I frantically called

my mother’s psychiatrist to report that she was wildly psychotic, again.
                          Again? he said, not unkindly.	         She’s always psychotic.

My mother	     I realized                      was her own miracle                her own 
                          immaculate conception.	    For months

or even a few years	              (with pharma help)
                         she could transmute	           into an almost 

good-enough mother	     and that was no small feat.

Read more from Issue 20.2.