Why You Should Always Have Red Wine Vinegar In Your Kitchen

Cooking is always a little easier when you have a well-stocked pantry. Sometimes, it allows you to be a little more creative with your culinary skills, and it also helps you plan out your meals. Red wine vinegar is a pantry staple you should always have on hand in your kitchen. It's the secret weapon for many salad dressings and marinades. It can easily add a savory depth of flavor to your beef, pork, and vegetables (via The Spruce Eats). The Kitchn describes the flavor or red wine vinegar as "fruity" and "well-balanced." But the beauty of this underrated ingredient lies in its multi-purpose, everyday use, the way it can add needed tang to a recipe, and its incredible health benefits.

Red wine vinegar is ideal for whisking together a nice and healthy salad dressing using it as the base. Red wine vinegar also works well when it comes to tenderizing red meat. Additionally, red wine vinegar is great to have on hand if you are making reductions, pickling foods, or using your slow cooker (via Real Simple). But this vinegar is worth having for other reasons.

Per Healthline, the process of fermenting red wine vinegar is rather simple and kicks off with a "starter culture" that sours the wine, making it acetic. This property may assist in helping your blood sugar levels from spiking by slowing your digestion of carbs and helping with weight loss. We can all get behind that. But the reason to have this simple ingredient in your cupboard doesn't end there. Red wine vinegar has some researchers believing it may improve your heart health by aiding in preventing blood clots and lowering blood pressure. And this vinegar is full of antioxidants that may safeguard your skin from damage and bacterial infections. However, too much of a good thing is never a good thing. Overuse of this condiment can cause heartburn, so remember the key is moderation (via Healthline). 

The other benefit of red wine vinegar is its shelf life. It you refrigerate your bottle instead of keeping it in the cabinet, Masterclass notes that your vinegar can last months longer. However, Healthline noted that when in doubt smell and taste it. While red wine vinegar never truly goes bad, over time, the flavor changes, and not necessarily for the better.