Why Does Balsamic Vinegar Have a Sweet Taste

The word vinegar is derived from the French vin aigre meaning sour wine. Why, then, does balsamic vinegar have a sweet taste  

Acetobacter bacteria oxidatively convert wine to vinegar through an aerobic fermentation of ethanol (a primary alcohol) into acetic acid (a carboxylic acid)  

In an fermentation process of a solution containing sucrose, the enzyme in-vertase, present in yeast, acts as a catalyst to convert sucrose into a 1 1 mixture of glucose and fructose. Thus, sucrose is a disaccharide that hydrolyzes in the presence of certain bacteria to yield glucose and fructose. The ether linkage in sucrose is broken to yield two alcohols  

The glucose and fructose formed are then converted into ethanol and carbon dioxide by another enzyme, zymase, which is also present in yeast  

KEY TERMS carboxylic acid alcohol oxidation disaccharide 

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Question 13.5 Why Does Balsamic Vinegar Have a Sweet Taste ... 

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