Verjuice

Sour but not vinegar

Verjuice — from Old French vert jus, “green juice” — is the lightly acidic juice pressed from grapes harvested before they ripen for wine. Its acidity is softer than vinegar and fruitier than lemon: roughly 1–1.5% malic and tartaric acid. Medieval and Renaissance European kitchens used it heavily as a flavoring acid in sauces, soups, and meat preparations.

A medieval staple, then nearly extinct

Verjuice fell out of mainstream cooking when lemon imports to northern Europe became affordable in the 17th and 18th centuries. By the 20th century it had nearly disappeared from European kitchens, surviving mostly in Persian and Lebanese cooking (where it’s called abghooreh) and in some southwestern French traditions.

A modern revival

Australian cookbook author Maggie Beer is credited with reintroducing verjuice to Anglophone cooking in the 1980s and 1990s, producing it commercially from underripe wine grapes that would otherwise be discarded. It’s now a small but growing specialty product across wine-producing regions.

How it’s used

• Deglazing pans for delicate sauces — gentler than wine or vinegar.
• Salad dressings — replaces some or all of the vinegar.
• Poaching fish, fruit, or chicken.
• Cocktails — a low-alcohol acid component in modern cocktail menus.

It oxidizes once opened; bottles keep about a month refrigerated.