I have a vinegar based bar-b-que sauce recipe that calls for 3% acidity vinegar which cannot be found. How do I cut 5% vinegar to 3%?
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Yes, cut it with water. The 1950's & early 60's in the UK were times of post-war austerity & shortages. Local chip shops looking to shortchange customers would heavily dilute vinegar which all but ruined the taste of a good piece of cod/haddock & chips. This reprehensible practice was confined to a minority of chippies but was almost always the case with mobile chip shops at sporting events, funfairs & places like Blackpool where hundreds of thousands of day-trippers & B&B guests made easy targets. Sarson's Vinegar was the best! "Don't just say vinegar. Say Sarson's", was the TV-ad's jingle – Peter Point Oct 21 '16 at 9:57
Cut it with water.
Commercial white vinegar is basically nothing but water and acetic acid.
3 units of 5% vinegar and 2 units of plain water give 5 units of 3% vinegar.
You asked for a formula
Let X bet the amount of 5%
The amount of water you need to add is
5/3*X - X
= 2/3*X
So if you have 6 cups
2/3*6 = 4 cups to add