Rural Couple Makes Gourmet Vinegar

Rural Couple Makes Gourmet Vinegar 30-5-8 With regional wines becoming a money-maker for rural people all over the country, one rural Minnesota couple has taken the next step. Ron Leasman, Long Prairie, makes specialty wine vinegars. This is not the cider vinegar your grandfather might have made, letting hard apple cider turn to vinegar in oak barrels. And it's not like vinaigrettes you find on store shelves, which are often artificially flavored. "Why not have something that's real?" asks Ron who, along with his wife, Nancy, set up a "vinegary" in their garage. His vinegars start with good wines that he makes out of apples, grapes, plums and cherries from his own orchard or from purchased warm climate fruits such as limes and papayas. After a couple of months, once the wine is done, the real work begins. Ron takes a small portion of wine, adds a vinegar starter and covers it with paper filters so that oxygen can mix with the wine's alcohol to create acetic acid. Ron gradually adds more and more wine to the growing gelatinous substance. It takes at least 8 mos. before 6 gal. of juice becomes about 4 gal. of vinegar. When the vinegar tests 6 to 8 percent acidity, it is ready to be pasteurized and bottled. Ron then adds enough water to bring the acidity level down to 5 percent. "Eight percent will take your breath away," Nancy said. Careful record keeping, constant testing, and a sanitary environment (licensed and inspected by the state) that is temperature-controlled are key to producing good vinegar. Ron researches and experiments, and he's had to throw out a few batches since he started learning the art of vinegar making eight years ago. But running a vinegary is also about art. Batches are small; combinations are inspired. As a certified herbalist, Nancy infuses some of Ron's vinegars with herbs, many of which she grows ù basil, thyme, oregano, dill, sage and lovage. Ron especially likes rosemary in rhubarb vinegar, a perfect accent to most kinds of meat. Nancy uses her husband's vinegars in many dishes from salads to appetizers to desserts. Recipes and about 30 different vinegar products are on the Leasmans' website. The attractive bottles are corked and sealed with beeswax, provided by a local beekeeper who keeps bee boxes on the Leasmans' property. Besides the Internet, the Long Prairie couple sells their vinegar through whole food cooperatives and to individuals. The Leasmans offer tours of their rural home's gardens, the orchard, and the vinegary. They are seeking new wholesale markets ù either stores or restaurants. Starting at $9.95/bottle retail, the Leasmans' gourmet vinegar is one-third the price of other gourmet vinegars. Many of Ron's vinegars taste good enough to put on ice and drink all by themselves. You can buy a sampler pack of four 1.7-oz. bottles for $12.95 plus $7.90 S&H. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ron and Nancy Leasman, Leatherwood Vinegary, 20395 Co. Rd. 86, Long Prairie, Minn. 56347 (ph 320 732-2879 leasman@rea-alp.com; www.leatherwoodvinegary.com).

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