What is the English translation of mère de vinaigre, and for what purpose is this substance used?

wahoowa94

Mother of Vinegar A slimy, gummy substance made up of various bacteria — specifically mycoderma aceti — that cause fermentation in wine and cider and turn them into vinegar. http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/entry?id=3566 Mar 16 08, 8:45 AM

zbeckabee

Mother of vinegar is a substance composed of a form of cellulose and acetic acid bacteria that develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids, which turns alcohol into acetic acid with the help of oxygen from the air. It is added to wine, cider, or other alcoholic liquids to produce vinegar. Mother of vinegar can also form in store-bought vinegar if there is some non-fermented sugar and/or alcohol contained in the vinegar. While not appetizing in appearance, mother of vinegar is completely harmless and vinegar does not have to be discarded because of it. It can be filtered out using a coffee filter, or simply left in and ignored. http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?tt=url&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fhome.scarlet.be%2Fchataignes.onze%2Fpage5.html&lp=fr_en&.intl=us&fr=ieas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_of_vinegar Mar 16 08, 8:46 AM

queproblema

A kind of mother of vinager is also the "mushroom" of Kombucha mushroom tea, a purported health drink some of my friends swear by. I mixed it every week for my husband for a couple of years, but at least he frankly admitted he liked it for the buzz. (I adjusted my recipe to make sure it packed a slight wallop.) The fanatics must have it and protectively transport the mushroom when traveling. The first one I saw was when a Chinese friend arrived and her most important first request wasn't to use the facilities but to get her mushroom under refrigeration. At the time I thought it was an exotic Asian fungus. Another friend, a strait-laced Christian, carried hers to a rowdy family reunion in Ohio and embarrassed herself by defending her great care with it by blurting out, "Do you know how much these mothers cost?!?" (About $20.) http://www.happyherbalist.com/kombucha.htm Mar 16 08, 11:26 AM