Being an avid re-use/re-cycle and just general packrat type... as well as a lousy housekeeper
.... sometimes little miracles can come from abject neglectfullness!
Some while ago, probably a year or year and a half even, we received a bottle of homemade wine. (setting the stage here). Being that it was newly bottled when we got it, and being that I at least am not only neglectful of household duties but also rather impatient and excitable by such lovely gifts, well, we opened that very young wine with delicious anticipation.
It was not quite, uh, well, up to the expectations... I'm sure if we had left that bottle alone till now it would be divine, but it was somewhat less than that at the time. We drank about 1/2 the bottle and then said no, don't like it so much.
Rather than discard it, I thought "hm, well, leave wine sit around for a while and it turns into vinegar, so... waste not, want not... I'll put this over here and eventually have red wine vinegar" and then I *put it over here* on the shelf in the kitchen with all the bottles of soy sauce, peppercorns, jars of catnip and so forth, and dropped it off my radar.
~ Fast Forward to now ~
Noticing it again this week, I thought hm, let's see if it's vinegar or what now? I wonder what wine tastes like if it sits in a bottle with a bunch of air for a really long time....how bad DOES it get????
Well, -- It wasn't SO BAD at all! -- It had the remarkable taste of sherry, at least to me. To verify that I wasn't just totally looney, I got out the real Sherry (which has been sitting in the magic pantry for at least 10 years I'd say, so it may not be the best control subject) and yes, indeed, what I had in the ersatz vinegar experiment was really truly a lot like Sherry, without the extra fortification.
So frugal sort that I am, I dug around for the 10 year old Vodka, topped the wine up with that, still needed some more hard stuff but there wasn't enough vodka, so after a judicious taste test in a glass decided the good rum might do, and viola! A free bottle of Sherry now sits proudly on the liquor shelf.
moral of the story - I don't know that there is one!
Some while ago, probably a year or year and a half even, we received a bottle of homemade wine. (setting the stage here). Being that it was newly bottled when we got it, and being that I at least am not only neglectful of household duties but also rather impatient and excitable by such lovely gifts, well, we opened that very young wine with delicious anticipation.
It was not quite, uh, well, up to the expectations... I'm sure if we had left that bottle alone till now it would be divine, but it was somewhat less than that at the time. We drank about 1/2 the bottle and then said no, don't like it so much.
Rather than discard it, I thought "hm, well, leave wine sit around for a while and it turns into vinegar, so... waste not, want not... I'll put this over here and eventually have red wine vinegar" and then I *put it over here* on the shelf in the kitchen with all the bottles of soy sauce, peppercorns, jars of catnip and so forth, and dropped it off my radar.
~ Fast Forward to now ~
Noticing it again this week, I thought hm, let's see if it's vinegar or what now? I wonder what wine tastes like if it sits in a bottle with a bunch of air for a really long time....how bad DOES it get????
Well, -- It wasn't SO BAD at all! -- It had the remarkable taste of sherry, at least to me. To verify that I wasn't just totally looney, I got out the real Sherry (which has been sitting in the magic pantry for at least 10 years I'd say, so it may not be the best control subject) and yes, indeed, what I had in the ersatz vinegar experiment was really truly a lot like Sherry, without the extra fortification.
So frugal sort that I am, I dug around for the 10 year old Vodka, topped the wine up with that, still needed some more hard stuff but there wasn't enough vodka, so after a judicious taste test in a glass decided the good rum might do, and viola! A free bottle of Sherry now sits proudly on the liquor shelf.
moral of the story - I don't know that there is one!