Not a big deal in the overall scheme of things...but thought I would share something I learned this week...
In the past, whenever I've had an American recipe that called for apple cider vinegar, I often went on a fruitless search for it in my local Morrisons (a small shop) - which left me scratching my head about something that is so common & easy to source in the US (what I remember as great big jugs of it for not very much money - my mom & grandma always had some around for use in cooking, pickling etc). So I would substitute - usually white wine vinegar.
I'm planning to make a homemade BBQ sauce later this week & most recipes call for apple cider vinegar, and in my mind - it's really that particular vinegar-tangy taste you're wanting in BBQ sauce, IMO. So I set out to find out what the heck over apple cider vinegar here?!
Now, it seems you can get a small bottle of it in the grocery store - not sure about my small local Morrisons, but I found small bottles at the big Morrisons in town. But dang it! I wanted a bigger jug of it. Which led me to an internet search, and it's apparently commonly sold here in health food shops - like Holland & Barrett. Who knew?! Such a common everyday thing in the US is a health food here.
(reminds me of when I one time discovered that cornmeal = 'gourmet polenta' here with a gourmet price to match!
)...ok, my alternative-medicine-new-agey SIL in the US probably mentioned something about its 'health food' properties before as well - if it has the 'mother' in it...
So off I went to Holland & Barrett, and found a decent sized jug of apple cider vinegar today...although, granted, even it's not nearly as big as what you can buy in the US.
So there you go...if you're not happy with the availability or size of apple cider vinegar in your local grocery store - head for the health food stores!
