The surprising truth about vinegar

When I last wrote about vinegars I did a search of scientific and medical publications and was amazed to find no scientific evidence to support the therapeutic value of vinegar. From personal and clinical experience I know that a little apple cider vinegar added to food helps with digestion and that if culinary herbs are added to the vinegar this increases the digestive potency and makes the vinegar more flavoursome. To give you an example: If you have difficulty digesting raw cabbage, try slicing the cabbage finely, shaking over a little herbal or plain vinegar, leaving it stand for about 30-60 minutes and then adding the other salad vegetables. When used in this way, the vinegar begins to predigest the cabbage. However, you can’t do this with all foods and some require cooking to make them digestible and palatable. Plants in the cabbage family are very healthy but in a few people they cause severe bloating.

There are many different types of vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is commonly used and is linked to many folk remedies and a few books have been written about its therapeutic value. Good quality apple cider vinegar contains ‘mother’, (webby material) so don’t think that this is a harmful contaminant. Balsamic vinegar is the most expensive and the tastiest but there is little research or therapeutic information. Other types used in cooking and preserving include rice, wine, and malt vinegars.

A digestive herbal vinegar recipe

• 3-4 teaspoons of powdered or crushed herbs such as ginger, turmeric, mustard, fenugreek, caraway, coriander, cumin
• 1-2 teabags of a herb such as chamomile, peppermint, lemon balm
• 1 handful of fresh herbs choosing from thyme, sage, basil, tarragon, rosemary, oregano, verbena, lemon grass. (Large leaves should be cut.)
• Put the herbs into a spare bottle, cover with a dietary vinegar, label and date, shake, leave standing on its side for a few days and then use. The vinegar acts as a preservative and draws the components out of the herbs, and it should keep for at least six months. Once the fluid is used, the herbs are ‘exhausted’ and you need to make a fresh batch. The constituents are optional and you can use various culinerary herbs and spices, plus add in chilli and garlic if you wish.

Therapeutics

You might wonder how anyone could write a book on vinegar telling you that it has 308 uses, is a remedy for over 30 health problems and will give you a longer, healthier, happier life. This is, of course, greatly exaggerated and may refer to studies on isolated compounds or the nutrient content of apples rather than a few teaspoons of vinegar.

We know that vinegar has a long history of use and evidence has been found in dwellings to show that during the time of the Roman Empire people made homemade vinegar from wild applies and cherries and used it for various medicinal purposes. If you know the nursery rhyme of Jack and Jill you will recall that when Jack “fell down and broke his crown” vinegar and brown paper was used to fix it. When I first started work as a naturopath, if people had sprains or swollen joints (without broken skin) we would give them a bottle of apple cider vinegar and a roll of brown paper. At home, the patients would pour the vinegar over a piece of brown paper and then rest with the damp, folded paper over the swollen area. Try it for yourself.