• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FORAGER | CHEF

Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

  • Home
  • About
  • Wild Mushrooms
    • Mushroom Archive
    • Posts by Species
      • Other Mushrooms
        • Lobster Mushrooms
        • Huitlacoche
        • Shrimp of the Woods
        • Truffles
        • Morels
        • Shaggy Mane
        • Hericium
        • Puffball
      • Polypores
        • Hen of the Woods
        • Dryad Saddle
        • Chicken of The Woods
        • Cauliflowers
        • Ischnoderma
        • Beefsteak
      • Chanterelles
        • Black Trumpet
        • Hedgehogs
        • Yellowfeet
      • Gilled
        • Matsutake
        • Honey Mushrooms
        • Russula / Lactarius
          • Candy Caps
          • Saffron Milkcap
          • Indigo Milkcap
      • Boletes
        • Porcini
        • Leccinum
        • Slippery Jacks
    • Recipes
      • Fresh
      • Dried
      • Preserves
    • The Basics
  • Plants
    • Plant Archive
    • Leafy Green Recipes
      • Leafy Green Plant Varieties
    • Ramps and Onions
    • Wild Herbs and Spices
      • Spruce and Conifers
      • Pollen
      • Prickly Ash
      • Bergamot / Wild Oregano
      • Spicebush
      • Golpar / Cow Parsnip
      • Wild Carraway
    • Wild Fruit
      • Wild Plums
      • Highbush Cranberry
      • Wild Grapes
      • Rowanberries
      • Wild Cherries
      • Aronia
      • Nannyberry
      • Wild Blueberries
    • From The Garden
    • Nuts, Roots, Tubers and Grains
    • Stalks and Shoots
  • Meat
    • Four-Legged Animals
      • Venison
      • Small Game
    • Poultry
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Offal and Organ Meat Recipes
    • Charcuterie
  • Recipes
    • Pickles, Preserves, Etc
    • Fermentation
    • Condiments
    • Appetizers
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Baking
    • Sweets
  • Video
    • Field, Forest Feast (The Wild Harvest)
    • Foraging Videos
    • Lamb and Goat Series
    • YouTube Tutorials
  • Press
    • Podcasts / Interviews
  • Work
    • Public Speaking
    • Charity and Private Dinners
    • Forays / Classes / Demos

How to Make Foraged Berry Infused Vinegar

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
Chokecherry Vinegar_

Black cherry vinegar

My foraged fruit infused vinegar recipe started with a batch of concord grapes years ago. Chef told us to juice the grapes, and when we were done passing the juice through a strainer, there was all sorts of skin an pits left. The daily changing menu relied on our experimentation, so I called dibs on the berry pits, sensing some possibility.

I poured vinegar over them with the idea of infusing it with the flavor of the berries, which I suspected would only get better hanging out in the cooler for a month or two while I thought of what make with it. Vinegar and alcohol have this uncanny ability to extract flavors from things, I love experimenting with them to layer flavors.

After a couple months, I got around to straining and cooking with the vinegar. I started cooking it down to a syrup with sugar to make a gastrique, or sweet and sour sauce. The vinegar was impressive: deeply colored, fragrant, with a flavor like concentrated grape essence, made without grape juice.

blackcap raspberry, blackcap berry, blackraspberry

Blackcap raspberries-another great vinegar candidate.

Dark Berries Make the Best Infused Vinegars 

It worked so well I started saving all the skins and pits from all the fruit I could get my hands on. Results varied, but one things was constant: dark, ripe fruit like cherries, blackberries, red wine grapes, josta berries, and currants (I could go on) were the best. Stone fruit like peaches, paw-paws, and wild plums was ok, but nothing like the berries.

Ambitious cooks might mention that you can make vinegar out of fruit, and that’s true. It takes time though. It also usually needs fruit juice to make the base to which the mother starter is added. If you’re feeling ambitious and have a bunch of extra ripe fruit, by all means, try it.

The infused vinegar here is great because it lets you get juice for making jam and such, and infused vinegar without sacrificing one for the other. At the end of the day, you’re making something from what other people throw away which is real cooking, a thrifty kitchen hack.

What can you do with berry infused vinegar?

Plenty. Here’s a couple things I’ve done:

  • Cook it down, then add meat stock, reduce a bit more and whisk in butter to thicken it for a simple pan sauce (especially good with poultry and game).
  • The vinegar can be cooked down by itself and a pinch of sugar too to make a simple sauce, then just whisk in a knob or two of butter to thicken at the end.
  • Use it to deglaze a pan of roasted beets, adding a little butter and herbs at the end to make a sweet and sour glaze.
  • It makes an excellent base for pickles, especially things that go well with fruit, like beets, or to layer flavor, pickle a fruit (like red wine grapes) in the vinegar you made from last year’s harvest. Cherries are especially good like this, just make sure the pickle liquid is a bit sweet.
  • If you make jelly from something (like elderberries), cook down some of the vinegar with the fruit you’re going to make jam with to layer the berry flavor and add a bright note to cut the sugar.
  • Reducing the vinegar with equal parts sugar would make an excellent flavor base for ice cream or panna cotta.
  • Combined with a little sugar and reduced with spices, etc, it makes an excellent glaze for grilled foods, like pork chops or sweet and sour ribs.
  • Cooking the vinegar with some sugar to taste and reducing to a light syrup will make a great garnish for vanilla ice cream, just like Italians do with balsamic vinegar.

vinegar, chokecherry

Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

How to Make Foraged Berry Infused Vinegar

Use fruit pits, berry skins, and seeds to make awesome homemade, infused vinegar
Prep Time20 mins
Course: Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Berry Infused Vinegar, Wild Berry Vinegar

Ingredients

  • Equal parts berry pits and skins left over from juicing and white wine or white vinegar

Instructions

  • Combine the vinegar and berry pits/skin in a non-reactive container (I like a mason jar) and refrigerate for a month or two, shaking occasionally. Occasionally taste the vinegar to check on it's progress, when it's to your liking, strain it through a fine strainer or cheesecloth, pressing down on the skins and pits with a spoon or ladle to get as much vinegar as possible. If the vinegar is very cloudy, strain it again.

Notes

I should mention many wild berries and things I make this with need to be cooked to extract their juice. I do this by putting the cleaned berries in a stainless steel saucepan and adding water about 3/4 of the way up to the surface of the berries, then I heat them gently until their hot and have released their juice, pass them through a strainer or food mill, then reserve the pits/skins, and juice separately.
Wild and cultivated grapes are my favorite for this, since they don't require cooking to release their juice, which yields a much more potent flavored vinegar. Both uncooked and cooked methods will give you decent results though. 

beets, chokecherry, vinegar,

 

 

  1.  
    beets glazed with chokecherry vinegar
    Print Recipe
    No ratings yet

    Roasted Beets Glazed With Chokecherry Vinegar

    Tender roasted beets glazed with tangy fruit-infused vinegar, a knob of butter and herbs.
    Prep Time1 hr
    Cook Time20 mins
    Course: Appetizer, Side Dish
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Chokecherries, Roasted Beets

    Ingredients

    • 8 ounces roasted beets peeled and cut into roughly 1 inch pieces
    • 1/4 cup chicken stock or water
    • 2 tablespoons berry infused vinegar made with chokecherries see recipe above
    • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
    • 1 tablespoon chopped equal parts fresh tarragon parsley, chives, and chervil
    • Kosher salt to taste

    Instructions

    • Combine the beets, stock or water, and vinegar in a non reactive saute pan (a 10 inch size will be fine) heat until the beets are hot throughout, stirring occasionally.
    • When the beets are hot, add the butter and herbs and stir to coat, there should still be some liquid from the stock and the vinegar in the pan to help create a creamy glaze for the beets. If the pan is dry, add a tablespoon of stock or water before adding the butter to prevent it from breaking and becoming oily.
    • After adding the butter and herbs to glaze the beets, double check the seasoning for salt and serve immediately.

    Notes

    Like a bowl of sparkling sweet and sour jewels. For maximum flavor and color, I like to use a blend of three beets: chioggia, gold and red. You can use just one or two colors if you can't find all three, but make sure to include some red beets since their dark color and staining are part of what make these so attractive. If you have access to white beets, they would be great in this too.

chokeberry vinegar, sweet and sour onions,

Onions glazed with chokeberry vinegar
Print Recipe
No ratings yet

Cippollini Onions, Glazed With Chokecherry Vinegar

Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Aronia Berry, Chokeberry, Cipollini Onions

Ingredients

  • 1/2 lb small cipollini onions
  • 1 cup berry infused vinegar made with chokecherries see recipe above
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • Boiling salted water for blanching the onions
  • Kosher salt to taste

Instructions

  • With a sharp pairing knife, remove the the root and top on each onion. Blanch the onions in boiling salted water for 10 seconds, then remove and shock in an ice bath, this will make the skins easier to peel off.
  • Put the peeled onions in a 10 inch saute pan and add the vinegar and sugar. Cook slowly until the onions are glazed, syrupy, and soft throughout, then serve immediately.

Notes

These are great served warm on top of a pork chop, or served cold alongside some soft goat cheese and crackers. If serving with meat, you could of course, add a little reduced stock in the beginning, or some cold unsalted butter at the end to make an easy sweet and sour sauce.

 

Related

Previous Post: « Kinome Leaves
Next Post: Simple American Wild Plum Sauce »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Julianne Vanderhoop

    February 13, 2020 at 12:47 pm

    My pear vinegar is developing a mother on top is that a problem?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      February 15, 2020 at 9:48 am

      Hi Julianne. I can probably help you trouble shoot that, but I need more information. This post is about a simple maceration of vinegar and berries, not fermentation to create vinegar. Walk me through the process you’re using to make pear vinegar and describe the “mother”. You can also send images to alanbergo3 at gmail.com

      Reply
  2. Jackie Skrypnek

    September 21, 2020 at 5:35 pm

    Thanks for this recipe, Alan – I was looking for something other than jam or syrup to do with a bunch of chokecherries! I just wanted to double check that there isn’t an issue with the vinegar drawing the toxic element out of the chokecherry pits? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      September 23, 2020 at 8:42 am

      Indigenous people have used the entire chokecherry, stone and all, as a food product for millenia from Siberia to North Dakota, to The Middle East. Just find a way to apply heat to the stones. You could boil them, dehydrate and crush to a flour and infuse, etc. If you don’t crack the stones and you only do a maceration, if it makes you feel more comfortable, bring the vinegar to a simmer before you bottle it, after you strain.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Sharp-Tail Grouse With Elderberry Vinegar Sauce says:
    December 15, 2019 at 11:01 am

    […] make elderberry vinegar, see my previous post here, or cover elderberry scraps with cider vinegar and allow to macerate for a few weeks, then strain […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

James Beard Award Winner

beard award

Subscribe (It’s free)

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Footer

Instagram

foragerchef

FORAGER | CHEF®
🍄🌱🍖
Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
James Beard Award ‘22
Host: Field Forest Feast 👇
streaming on @tastemade

Alan Bergo
Had a blast on the last day of the @wild.fed shoot Had a blast on the last day of the @wild.fed shoot cooking in the Garden of Eden, a.k.a Sam Thayer’s orchard. 

We’d planned on making ground squirrel, bullfrog and crayfish gumbo but only the crayfish came through. Luckily I had some back up andouille just in case. 

It’s may not be traditional, but gumbo with crayfish broth, a heap of @mushroomforaginginmn porcini, milkweed pods (in lieu of okra) wild rice and crayfish-chanterelle salad didn’t suck. 6 of us polished off a gallon 😁.

H/o to chef Lenny Russo who I pestered with questions on frog-based foods beforehand. Hyper-local meals like this are what we made at Heartland in St Paul during my tenure there. 

@danielvitalis 
@grantguiliano 

#ditchlobster #mudbugs #gumbo #crayfish #wildrice #wildfed
Long, fun day snatching crayfish out of the water Long, fun day snatching crayfish out of the water by hand with Sam Thayer and @danielvitalis for @wild.fed 

Daniel and Sam were the apex predators, but I got a few. 

Without a net catching crayfish by hand is definitely a wax-on wax-off sort of skill. Clears your mind. 

They’re going into gumbo with porcini, sausage and milkweed pods today. 

#crayfish #ninjareflexes #waxonwaxoff #normalthings #onset🎥🎬
Working all day on preps for cattail lateral rhizo Working all day on preps for cattail lateral rhizomes and blueberries for this weeks shoot with @wildfed 

Been a few years since I worked with these. Thankfully Sam Thayer dropped a couple off for me to work with. They’re tender, crisp and delicious. 

Sam mentioned their mild flavor and texture could be because they don’t have to worry about predators eating them, since they grow in the muck of cattail marshes. 

I think they could use a pet name. Pond tusk? Swamp spears? Help me out here. 😂

Nature makes the coolest things. 

#itcamefromthepond #cattail #rhizomes #foraging #typhalatifolia
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

I make them with whatever I have on hand. Mushrooms will fade into the background a little here, so I use a bunch of them, along with lots of herbs and hickory nut oil + dill flowers. 

I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine caps on hardwood sawdust from my lumberjack buddy.

Next up blewits. Spawn from @northsporemushrooms

#winecaps #strophariaaeruginosa #allthemushroomtags
It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from my favorite spot tomorrow a.m. and have room for a couple helpers. It’s at an event on a farm just south of St. Cloud. 

If you’re interested send me a message and I’ll raffle off the spots. Plenty of cherries to go around. I’ll be leading a short plant walk around the farm too. 

#chokecherries #foraging #prunusvirginiana #summervibes
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Privacy

  • Privacy Policy

Affiliate Disclosure

 I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchases help keep this website free and help with the many costs involved with this site as it has continued to grow over the years. 

Copyright © 2022 ·