what is a vinegar mother

A vinegar mother is a gelatinous disc that looks like a slice of wobbly raw liver, composed of a form of cellulose and acetic acid bacteria that sometimes develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids during the process that turns alcohol into acetic acid with the help of oxygen from the air and acetic acid. The mother of vinegar contains acetic acid bacteria that convert alcohol into acetic acid, the scientific name for vinegar, and yeast and other microorganisms that participate in the fermentation process. Vinegar mother is often added to wine, cider, or other alcoholic liquids to produce vinegar at home, although only the bacteria is required. Once created, the vinegar mother will slowly get larger as it turns the wine into vinegar. When all the wine has been turned into vinegar, you can siphon it off and store it in bottles, then add more wine into the pot or barrel and let the mother go to work again. Vinegar can be made on a mass scale using a system that utilizes mother of vinegar called Orleans or French, which grows mother of vinegar on a big surface and feeds it with organic liquids that are rich in phosphates and nitrogen. The mother is then placed on top of the wine in big shallow vats, and the mother acetifies the wine into vinegar.