Editing Mother of vinegar (section)

== Applications ==
Mother of vinegar is used as an aid in the production of vinegar. There are some drawbacks. If the mother of vinegar does not penetrate the mass of the vinegar, then it disrupts the vinegar making process. This is because the mycoderms consume the oxygen in the wine, breaking it down. Having a thick layer of mother of vinegar can also destroy the odorant compounds in vinegar. A way to avoid these side effects is to only use the surface veil of mother of vinegar.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Vinegar with the mother.jpg|thumb|Store-bought vinegar with mother of vinegar at the bottom]]
Vinegar can be made on a mass scale. A system that utilizes mother of vinegar is called Orleans or French. It was named this since many wines were sold to vinegar brewers at [[Orléans|Orleans]], which is a port on the [[Loire]], in France. The system grows mother of vinegar on a big surface. The mother is fed with organic liquids that are rich in [[phosphate]]s and [[nitrogen]]. The mother is then placed on top of the wine in big shallow vats. The vat is then covered with another vat or just a cover. The mother acetifies the wine into vinegar.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Bourgeois |first=Jacques |last2=Barja |first2=François |date=2009 |title=The history of vinegar and of its acetification systems |url=http://www.unige.ch/sphn/Publications/ArchivesSciences/AdS%202004-2015/AdS%202009%20Vol%2062%20Fasc%202/147-160_05_Bourgeois_62_2.pdf |journal=Archives des Sciences |volume=62 |pages=147–160}}</ref>

Mother of vinegar is also used in the traditional production of [[balsamic vinegar]]. Balsamic vinegar is created by cooking down [[grape juice]] to create a concentrate. The concentrate is poured into a [[Carboy|demijohn]] and is left to sit throughout the winter. In the spring, the concentrate is transferred to a wooden barrel. By summer, mother of vinegar is used to start the vinegar fermentation. The concentrate and mother are then separated into different barrels of varying wood types. The vinegar is created over the course of 13 years.<ref name=":1" />

Mother of vinegar can also form in store-bought vinegar if there is some residual sugar, leftover yeast and bacteria and/or alcohol contained in the vinegar. This is more common in [[pasteurization|unpasteurized]] vinegar, since the pasteurization might not stabilize the process completely. While not necessarily appetizing in appearance, mother of vinegar is completely harmless and the surrounding vinegar does not have to be discarded because of it. It can be filtered out using a coffee filter, used to start a bottle of vinegar, or simply ignored.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mother of vinegar fact sheet |url=https://inspection.canada.ca/food-safety-for-consumers/fact-sheets/specific-products-and-risks/commonly-occurring-issues-in-food/mother-of-vinegar/eng/1593531803164/1593531803773 |access-date=13 Nov 2021 |publisher=Canadian food inspection agency}}</ref>