Why You Should Be Cooking with Black Vinegar

Love Asian flavors? Then a bottle of Chinese black vinegar is a must-have in your pantry. The rice-based vinegar has the power to transform dishes, infusing them with umami-rich flavor—and it’s lower in sodium than soy sauce and tamari, making it a clutch ingredient for health-conscious cooks. Here’s everything you need to know about the aromatic Chinese elixir, from finding a good brand to using it to boost the taste of non-Asian recipes as well.

Black vinegar is an all-natural rice-based vinegar that undergoes an extended aging period (typically six months or more) to give it a rich, dark color and a complex flavor. China, Japan, and Korea all make types of black vinegar, but Chinese black vinegar is the best known and most widely available worldwide. Bottles of Chinese black vinegar made with glutinous rice (aka sticky rice) are sometimes labeled…