White Vinegar
Not be confused with white wine vinegar, this distilled product is a wonderful addition to both your cooking pantry and your cleaning cabinet. Distilled vinegar in water, about 1/4 cup to a gallon, is a great thing to use to clean your hardwood floors or countertops, it is naturally antibacterial and antimicrobial, and all natural if you are worried about chemicals. It can also help eliminate unpleasant odors, and will take the film off your coffee pot and inside of your plastic or glass tupperware containers like magic. But it is also useful in cooking, especially if you want the vegetable or fruit flavor to really come through.
Sherry Vinegar
According to Serious Eats, to make sherry vinegar, sherry is further oxidized through blending in graduated stacks of barrels. Then a certain quantity of vinegar is moved from the young barrels on top and blended with the older ones at the bottom. The resulting product is a mix of many vintages. Through this process, the vinegar becomes oxidized, taking on the flavors of wood and nuttiness, and develops a long finish, qualities that work especially well in starchy bean dishes, spicy stews, and creamy purées. But just because a sherry vinegar hails from Spain doesn’t mean it’s good—check the label, and avoid those with additives like caramel coloring and flavoring agents that mimic oak and oxidation, which make the vinegar smell and taste like wood cleaner.
Honey Vinegar
Mead, or honey wine, is one fermented step away from honey vinegar. Different honeys yield different flavors in vinegar: A darker chestnut honey will be a bit deeper and funkier than a straight-up citrus flower one, which should still have notes of whatever fruit or tree the bees fed from. Honey vinegars come in a spectrum of colors, from light and translucent to reddish-brown mahogany, and usually taste stronger the darker they get. They’re especially expressive in vinaigrettes, take to herb infusions nicely, and can show off their vibrancy in cocktails when used in place of citrus. They even play well in confectionery, like honeycomb candy.