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[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Marie McHarry wrote:

> > Fruit acids probably work
> > better, and it's really the normal procedure anyway to add some wine.
> >    
>
> I don't know why fruit acid would work better unless it's more acidic,
> but I don't think it is. Wine that is as acidic as vinegar --is very,
> very cheap wine.
>  
It takes two molecules of acetic acid to react with one calcium 
carbonate molecule, but only one of malic acid.  In a weak vinegar 
solution the reaction rate will be very slow, because there's just a 
small probability that two vinegar molecules will arrive at the same 
time, with so many water molecules around.  It's a question of whether 
the evaporation rate of vinegar exceeds the reaction rate.  In the end, 
if I replenish the water so that I have the same amount I started with, 
and it tastes less sour after simmering than it originally did, with 
fruit acids I know I've released calcium (and magnesium); with vinegar I 
can't tell if it just evaporated.  I guess it's nitpicking as long as 
there's cheap vinegar, but without that, I'd probably resort to green 
apples or tomatillos instead (the latter sounds great for pork stock, 
with cilantro).

It turns out that the acid of grapes, tartaric acid, forms a fairly 
insoluble compound with calcium, calcium tartrate.  An Internet search 
confirms what the CRC handbook says.  Searching on "calcium malate" 
produces a horde of ads for mineral supplements, since this is 
considered a "good" chelated form of calcium; a search on "calcium 
tartrate" results only in references to deposits that form on wine 
barrels.  So wine as such won't work, unless it's not from grapes.

I bet you'll find that that sour fruit makes wine quite easily, with 
added sugar.  Yeast thrive at pH 5.0, and the organisms that contaminate 
wine don't.  But the only reason for going to the trouble to make that 
(other than to drink it, after correcting the acidity), let alone 
vinegar, would be because fruit acids often come with too much sugar to 
make a good stock.  But that still leaves many possibilities, to be 
judged by their culinary value.

>  
>
> > really enjoy the Chinese chicken broth recipe I have, but I haven't
> > experimented much with lamb.  There's a recipe in an old English
> > cookbook for mutton broth, but it has turnip...  Maybe I should be more
> > open-minded.  Can broth be made from rabbit bones, and is it worthwhile,
> > I wonder.
> >    
>
> You have a problem with turnips? Turnips are on your side. (My mother
> is partial to parsnips, but I think they should be used only sparingly
> in alternate years.)
>
> I'm not sure why you question making broth from rabbit... just about
> any animal parts can be made into broth.
>
>  
I don't really crave turnips that much, but they're not bad mashed with 
potato.

I had just never heard of rabbit broth, since they don't have it in a 
cube!  An Internet search reveals that "consomme de lapin" is considered 
fine food in France.

Bill
S. Oregon coast