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Can You Freeze Vinegar?

Diane Westphal
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by Diane Westphal

Every house has at least one bottle of vinegar lying somewhere in the kitchen. It’s no surprise since there isn’t a shortage of how you can use vinegar. You can use the condiment for cooking meals, preparing dips, salads, and even for cleaning scales from your drain pipes.

Since vinegar is so useful and also cheap, households buy in bulk. Naturally, to ensure it doesn’t go bad, you probably wondered, “does vinegar freeze?”

According to the FDA, vinegar must contain a minimum 4% of acetic acid. Since alcohol transforms into acetic acid through the fermentation process, alcohol is only found in traces. Examples are spirit vinegar, wine vinegar, malt vinegar, spirit vinegar, etc.

If you ever tried to freeze a bottle of brandy in your average home freezer, you were probably surprised when you found out the brandy was still liquid. The more alcohol a liquid contains, the lower the freezing point is. Also, more alcohol in a liquid means a more extended expiration date.

So what about vinegar? Will it expire if you keep it on a kitchen shelf? Or can you freeze vinegar?

Does Vinegar Freeze?

Vinegar

In short, you can freeze vinegar. But regardless if you freeze vinegar or not, vinegar can stay fresh for a long time. That’s due to vinegar’s acidic nature, and acetic acid is relatively stable under normal household conditions.

Some research even claims that vinegar has an indefinite shelf life. According to the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, regular vinegar shelf life is about two years unopened and one year opened. 


But no matter if you’re using regular wine vinegar or top-shelf balsamic vinegar, you don’t have to worry about getting sick. Still, you probably noticed that many vinegar bottles have an expiration date. Why is that so if vinegar’s shelf life is unlimited?

Although it’s open to discussion if it’s a part of some well-planned marketing campaign (if a buyer sees that vinegar expired, they will buy more), vinegar does lose its tanginess with time. Some color changes might occur as well, especially with red vinegar.

To put vinegar’s longevity in perspective, some of the more exclusive balsamic vinegar age for a minimum of sixty days. Even more premium vinegar age for up to twenty-five years.

Since the taste does change with time, you still might prefer using fresh vinegar for pickling food or mixing your favorite hot sauce. If you use vinegar for cleaning purposes, both new and old vinegar will do.

Freezing vinegar can reduce its acidity, the same as leaving it in the pantry. No matter where you keep it, acetic acid does slowly decompose, meaning acidity decreases.

Nevertheless, you might still want to freeze your vinegar. But at what temperature does vinegar freeze?

Vinegar Freezing Point: What Temperature Does Vinegar Freeze?

The vinegar freezing point is at around 28 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on its composition.

Although the freezing point is slightly lower than the water freezing point (32 degrees Fahrenheit), you don’t have to worry about prepping your freezer for vinegar-freezing purposes.
By adding acid to water, it gets harder for water molecules to bind and form ice. Thus, you need a lower freezing point to freeze vinegar than water.

How To Freeze Vinegar?

The first thing to make sure before freezing vinegar is to store it in plastic rather than a glass bottle. If you bought vinegar in a glass bottle, it’s a good idea to store it in a plastic container. This is because glass can break in the freezer, and you can end up with a “vinegary” mess.


Here are some steps you can take to ensure you freeze vinegar the right way:

1. Get a solid, clean container with a tight lid and no cracks. You don’t want vinegar slowly leaking before it freezes.

You might prefer several smaller containers than a big one. If you plan to use vinegar often, you’ll spend too much time unfreezing from a single big container.

2. When pouring vinegar, don’t pour to the top. Every liquid expands as it freezes. While plastic won’t shatter the same as glass, it can still crack.

 3. If you want to be extra cautious to prevent leaks, put the container in a plastic bag and tape the top.

4. Store in the freezer until you feel like making your favorite meal (or you need to clean something.)

A good plan is to always have a single bottle in your pantry. When you use it up, take out a new one from the freezer and let it thaw.


If you want to be even more innovative, you can freeze vinegar in an ice cube tray. Besides pickling and cleaning, you often need only a tiny amount. This way, you can unfreeze vinegar fast and have it ready in a couple of minutes.

How Long Will Vinegar Last In The Fridge/Freezer?

Any vinegar can last indefinitely, both in a fridge and a freezer. However, it’s possible that the longer you keep the vinegar frozen, the more acidity it will lose.

Another thing to keep in mind is if you mix vinegar with something else. If it’s pure vinegar, you don’t have to worry.

But if it’s a marinade, it depends on other components. For example, if you include oil, you’ll not want to keep it in your fridge or freezer for a long time since oil tends to get rancid pretty quickly.

A simple rule of thumb is if it’s pure vinegar, keep it as long as you want. If it’s a mixture, try to use it as quickly as possible.

For storing vinegar outside a freezer, keep it in the dark, away from heat sources such as stoves or fridge tops.

How To Tell If Your Frozen Vinegar is Bad?

Storing food properly is crucial to avoiding illness and food poisoning. As established, besides some loss in taste and color alterations, it’s unlikely your vinegar will go bad since vinegar is self-preserving.

You might notice sediment forming at the bottom of the container, but that isn’t a cause for concern. As long as it’s pure vinegar, the changes are merely visual. To keep it on the safe side, you might want to avoid consuming regular vinegar stored for several years. Also, it’s vital to know that vinegar doesn’t prolong the shelf life of other food. Spoiled food comes with health risks, and you should avoid consuming any regular food that’s gone bad.

What To Do With Frozen Vinegar?

After freezing vinegar, there will come the point when you need to unfreeze safely stored vinegar. The good news is that unless you’re preparing a marinade or a salad, you don’t need to wait for the vinegar to thaw.

If you freeze vinegar in a large container, you can cut out a necessary chunk and throw it in the cooking pot. It gets even easier if you let vinegar freeze in an ice cube tray. To unfreeze a whole bottle, simply transfer the vinegar bottle from the freezer to your fridge. The average fridge temperature is forty degrees or lower.

That is well above the vinegar freezing point.

Another technique you can use is to submerge the container in tap water and wait for a couple of hours. Same as with regular vinegar, you can do whatever you want with frozen vinegar. But, you should keep some things in mind. Since frozen vinegar’s acidity tends to change faster, you might lose some tanginess when pickling food. If you’re using frozen vinegar for cooking or a sauce, it’s unlikely you’ll notice any difference.

A great way to put it is the more vinegar you need, the higher the chances are you’ll notice the difference in taste. So although there are no health concerns, you want to keep your food’s flavor in mind.
If you need to use vinegar for cleaning, there are several ways you can use frozen vinegar.

For hard-cleaning, such as unclogging sink pipes, you’ll want to use pure vinegar, meaning you’ll want to let it thaw. But if you want to clean kitchen surfaces, the vinegary smell might be too much. Instead of waiting for the vinegar to thaw, put a sizable chunk in tap water. Not only will vinegar dissolve faster, but you’ll also get an instant cleaning solution with a weaker smell.

Although you don’t have to be super strict about the water/vinegar ratio, for an effective solution, try to keep the balance around 1:1.

Conclusion

Now that we’ve answered all your questions, such as:

  • “Does vinegar freeze?”
  • “How do I freeze vinegar?” 
  • “At what temperature does vinegar freeze?”

You can now add frozen vinegar to your kitchen arsenal. As one last fun tidbit, before you go, frozen vinegar cubes can serve as a fun little experiment if you have kids.

Simply take a vinegar cube and sprinkle some baking soda on the cube. Bubbles will start to form, and if you put the cube in water, bubbles will appear in water as well. You don’t have to worry about health hazards since both vinegar and baking soda are safe to touch.

About Diane Westphal
Diane Westphal
Diane lives with her husband and 2 children on a small ranch in Southern California, where she's able to grow a good portion of the food that she prepares for her family in a variety of kitchen creations.Diane has been formally trained and has spent stints in multiple noted restaurants in her region and currently consults with commercial catering businesses. She enjoys writing about food as much as she engages in making her creations.
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