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What is vinegar? Is it a plant?

Dear Gramps,
What is vinegar? Is it a plant?
Kailee

Dear Kailee,
Vinegar is not a plant, but it is made from many different plants - mostly grains such as rice and barley, and fruits like apples, berries and peaches, but also including such various plants such as potatoes, and the derivatives of plants such as honey. When these foods go through the fermentation process, the natural sugar that they contain is converted to alcohol. As a secondary fermentation, the alcohol may be acted upon by the bacterium, acetobacter aceti, to convert it to acetic acid. That’s what vinegar is.
In this secondary fermentation process, vinegar produces “mother,” which is cellulose produced by the bacteria that make the vinegar. Most vinegar that you buy will have been pasteurized to prevent mother from forming, but it may grow again anyway after the container has been opened at home. However, the mother is in no way harmful and the vinegar can yet be used. It may also be interesting to note that vinegar has no limited shelf life. Acetic acid is a stable compound, and it will not change with storage time.
Gramps