the library

Apple cider vinegar

Savory & ferment· ferment vinegar

What it is

Apple cider vinegar is made by fermenting apple juice, first with yeast into alcohol, then with bacteria that convert it into vinegar.

What it tastes like

On the nose: acid, bitter, banana, astringent. Among its measured molecules: isobutyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, acetic acid, ethyl acetate, isoamyl alcohol.

Every one of its 13 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

• protocatechuic acidtasteacidreads as astringentMeasured in 3 of 341 ingredients.cite

  1.00 ± 0.06; not detected in the Xin He apple cider vinegar, so it is a product-level rather than a category-level finding — Liu et al. 2019, Antioxidants (Table 3, row 10 'Apple cider vinegar (Heinz)', column 'Protocatechuic Acid')
• acetic acidaromaacidreads as pungent (PubChem)Measured in 37 of 341 ingredients.cite

  the paper describes the product's defining step: 'the alcohol produced during the first step is converted naturally to acetic acid by indigenous acetic bacteria'; its Table 1 gives titratable acidity of 3.60 ± 0.21 for artisanal and 5.40 ± 0.14 for industrial apple vinegar — Ousaaid et al. 2022, Molecules (Introduction, apple-vinegar production)
• DL-malic acidtasteacidreads as sour, tartMeasured in 8 of 341 ingredients.cite

  4102.22 ± 253.95 µg/mL. Malic acid is detected in 11 of the 14 apple-based products in the table, ranging from 236.38 µg/mL (Kühne) to 7691.98 µg/mL (Guang Wei Yuan) — Liu et al. 2019, Antioxidants (Table 4 (Main organic acids and their contents in 23 fruit vinegars), row 11 'Apple cider vinegar (Xin He)', column 'Malic Acid (μg/mL)')
• succinic acidtasteacidreads as sour, slightly bitterMeasured in 5 of 341 ingredients.cite

  991.08 ± 13.89 µg/mL; also present in two other apple vinegars (Zi Lin 1637.36, Cu Bo Shi 1775.77) — Liu et al. 2019, Antioxidants (Table 4, row 11 'Apple cider vinegar (Xin He)', column 'Succinic Acid (μg/mL)')
• isobutyl acetatearomaesterreads as banana taste (PubChem)Measured in 5 of 341 ingredients.cite

  recorded present ('+') in cider vinegar — a presence record compiled from the published literature, not a measurement by this review's authors — Xie Zhenzhen et al. 2022, Frontiers in Microbiology (Table 4, row '2-Methylpropyl acetate', column 'CV')
• ethyl acetatearomaesterreads as fragrant (PubChem)Measured in 43 of 341 ingredients.cite

  recorded present ('+') in cider vinegar — a presence record compiled from the published literature, not a measurement by this review's authors — Xie Zhenzhen et al. 2022, Frontiers in Microbiology (Table 4, row 'Ethyl acetate', column 'CV')
• isoamyl alcoholaromaalcoholMeasured in 46 of 341 ingredients.cite

  recorded present ('+') in cider vinegar — a presence record compiled from the published literature, not a measurement by this review's authors — Xie Zhenzhen et al. 2022, Frontiers in Microbiology (Table 4, row '3-Methyl-1-butanol', column 'CV')
• ethyl hexanoatearomaesterMeasured in 36 of 341 ingredients.cite

  recorded present ('+') in cider vinegar; one of only five compounds the review finds common across all five fruit vinegars — a presence record compiled from the published literature, not a measurement by this review's authors — Xie Zhenzhen et al. 2022, Frontiers in Microbiology (Table 4, row 'Ethyl hexanoate', column 'CV')
• arbutintastesugarMeasured in 2 of 341 ingredients.cite

  32.60% of the phenolic fraction in artisanal apple vinegar and 45.59% in industrial apple vinegar — the largest phenolic in both samples — Ousaaid et al. 2022, Molecules (Table 5 (Phenolic compounds of apple vinegar samples), row 'Arbutin')
• p-coumaric acidtasteacidreads as bitter, astringentMeasured in 5 of 341 ingredients.cite

  2.30% of the phenolic fraction in artisanal apple vinegar and 4.56% in industrial — Ousaaid et al. 2022, Molecules (Table 5, row 'P-coumaric')
• Chlorogenic acidtastephenolreads as bitter, astringentMeasured in 4 of 341 ingredients.cite

  4.67 ± 0.21 in Apple cider vinegar (Xin He) and 0.23 ± 0.00 in Apple cider vinegar (Heinz); the most frequently detected phenolic across the paper's apple products — Liu et al. 2019, Antioxidants (Table 3 (Main phenolic compounds and their contents in 23 fruit vinegars), rows 10-11, column 'Chlorogenic Acid')
• apigenintasteflavonoidreads as bitter, astringentMeasured in 2 of 341 ingredients.cite

  16.48% of the phenolic fraction in artisanal apple vinegar and 2.54% in industrial — the largest artisanal-vs-industrial difference in the table — Ousaaid et al. 2022, Molecules (Table 5, row 'Apigenin')