i’m just kinda thinking out loud about this, so forgive my rambling.
An example of what I’m talking about is jalapeno vinegar from canned pickled jalapenos, and various ways it might be transformed
I make homemade refried beans. I want them highly seasoned, spicy hot. and thick. I don’t want bean soup.
I already have their jalapenos dehydrated, and I’m left with all this vinegar, which is a great addition to the beans, but I’d want to be able to add their essence to “taste” without fear of diluting the mixture.
I really like the thought of creating a powder several ways. Just from the liquid, liquid and jalapenos combined, maybe also including the pickled carrots and onions, or maybe a sort of “jam” (I suppose there must be a proper name for that) that could be used as a seasoning or condiment.
What can I expect when I reduce the liquid in term of taste, heat retention, etc.
Chop the onions and start cooking in a little oil with kosher salt. Pop the rest of the stuff in the blender and make a puree. Add to the onions and reduce until the onions are caramelized. Yum!
They do make/sell vinegar powder for things like potato chips. So two ideas
1 by some, grind up your dehydrated jalapeños and mix the two powders.
I’ve never done it but there were a few videos and articles on making your own vinegar powder. Give one a try and see how it goes!!! If memory serves one way was soaking bread in the vinegar, dehydrating and then grinding to powder. The other was boiling with baking powder? Soda? And the dehydrating the paste once it’s almost fully reduced and grinding to a powder. There may be others and no idea which might be better.
I’d be curious how it goes. I’ve been thinking of buying some powder since I love salt and vinegar potato chips but haven’t gotten around to it.
Well… I don’t get the whole powder thing. I make refried beans a lot, and the flavors I pop into them (chiles, onions, tomatillos, etc.) are fried in oil. If you use a minimum amount of vinegar to make the blend, you can add more to taste while you reduce it. I don’t ever recall them coming out too thin or soupy.
Not exactly sure what you’re objecting to. If it’s the vinegar powder concept, I love the idea of the finished product, but it’s a long grind (excuse the pun) to get there.
I tried to ad a link to the Youtube video, “Dehydrated Vinegar Powder”. This is not my first time here, but I wasn’t permitted because but I’m “new” here. You can check it out th4e video to see what I mean.
Our opinions about “soupy” probably differ. Also, along the way, I’ve become aware a several what might be considered unconventional refried beans ingredients that I now use,. Some of them can contribute to loosening things up, but the liquid can change consistency quickly, and there is no going back.
I’m just trying to come up with another way to infuse that distinctive pickled vinegary kick before judiciously adding any liquid; vinegar, hot sauce, broth, etc.
I don’t think you can make “vinegar powder” just by drying vinegar, as acetic acid (the sour substance in vinegar) is volatile, so it will evaporate along with the water (some of the nonvolatile flavorings will probably stay, but with much of the acetic acid gone it won’t be very sour). You need something to help hold on to the acetate.
Maltodextrin might work, as in the link that Amandarama posted in reply.
From a reddit thread, looks like commercial vinegar powder is sodium diacetate, which you can make by mixing acetic acid (or your vinegar?) with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and drying.
So we have maltodextrin or sodium diacetate, which one commenter said did not produce a strong vinegar flavor, but that was just one persons experience.
I’m tempted to try the maltodextrin, but I have a few questions after reading the article that I’m not clear about.
What exactly do you do after combining the vinegar and maltodextrin? How do you dry it out.
What do you think about reducing the vinegar before combining?
