Where to buy organic vinegar: in the the provinces of course
It’s no good going to the regular city stores or supermarkets to buy organic vinegar. You need to go to the organic markets like OPTA or the weekend markets or Tiendesitas to get authentic organic vinegar.
I’ve tried organic vinegar made from NIPA, from TUBA (coconut), and from Sugar Cane. They all have their taste and character, it depends on what you are dipping into it or if you are using it for cooking.
The best tasting coconut vinegar is Lola Conching’s a branded vinegar that is available at OPTA and from Jackie Dellota, I am sure it is available elsewhere as well, it is made in Sorsogon province. Lola Conching’s vinegar tastes so good I have to hide my bottle in my own hiding place away from the maids as they like that vinegar so much it seems like they are chugging it like beer and it’s gone in a flash. I tell them I have gallons of the other provincial vinegars there for you, those are yours to consume freely.
When we have oysters we sometimes dip them in vinegar and we use all these different types of vinegars to see which ones taste best with oysters… I believe the tuba coconut vinegar from candelaria, quezon tastes best with oysters… the taste is delicate and not too strong like lola conching’s.
There is a man who owns several stands of this organic tuba vinegar / organic tuba alcoholic drink stands just at the border of Candelaria Quezon. I took a picture of him and his stand. He is unmistakable because he has a cyst on his left lower jaw. He says organic vinegar happens when it fails to become the alcoholic drink it should become. I asked him for the most powerful vinegar he had… first class… and it does taste first class… although it comes in a recycled plastic bottle.
Organic vinegar works the same as those apple cider vinegars being popularized in the USA. Organic vinegar is a probiotic. I remember Dr. Austria prescribing Lola Conching’s vinegar as a probiotic supplement.
So for those of you driving out of Manila and into the provinces, remember to stop by these nice looking stands, they are selling something very hard to find in Manila: organic vinegar.
