A Vinegar a Day | 2 January | 1-Minute Mocktail

Or, How Artisan Vinegar Will Save Dry January

It won't surprise you that we at the Artisan Vinegar Company think that good vinegar goes with pretty much anything. (Not vanilla ice cream, you say? Challenge accepted.) Thus, I've decided to write one vinegar recipe per day this week — just to show the myriad uses of this wonderful sour liquid. Enter Day 2.

Drinking vinegar — rather than only using it in food and cooking — has a long history, as we've covered previously (check out our recipes for the Persian sekanjabin and the related anglophone shrub). If you're doing dry January, you may need all the help and inspiration you can get, and the wealth of drinking uses for vinegar is an excellent place to turn.

Vinegar has a big advantage over other non-alcoholic drinks when it comes to flavour and complexity: it used to be alcohol. All that's happened is that the vinegar mother, a so-called 'biofilm' of cellulose, yeast and bacteria, has turned that alcohol into acetic acid, giving vinegar its invigorating tang. And that tang is just what your average dull, grey January day needs — whether or not you're skipping the booze the rest of the time!

This refreshing mocktail really does come together just 60 seconds (I timed myself). In its sugar-free simplicity, it goes with any meal, but it's also bubbly and unique.

I have devised a 'chocolate orange' mocktail for those who are doing dry January while wishing it was still Christmas, but feel free, as ever, to mix and match the components. Any of the many bitters, vinegars, and citrus juices out there can be used.

Chocolate Orange 1-Minute Mocktail

• 1 clementine left over from your stocking (2 if they're very small)
• Chocolate (or chocolate-y) cocktail bitters – I'm using the amazing Bogart's Bitters from The Bitter Truth
• Artisan Cider Vinegar (it enhances the orange flavour)
• Sparkling water

Juice the clementine into a large glass. Add a good dash each of the bitters and the vinegar. Add ice if desired. Fill the glass to the top with sparkling water. Cheers!

– Beatrix Swanson