Rice vinegar is a vinegar made from fermented rice or rice wine in China and Japan. Japanese rice vinegar is very mild and mellow and ranges in colour from colourless to pale yellow. There are two distinct types of Japanese vinegar: one is made from fermented rice and the other is made by adding rice vinegar to sake. Chinese rice vinegars are stronger than Japanese ones, and range in colour from clear to various shades of red and brown. Chinese and especially Japanese vinegars are very mild and sweet compared to more acidic Western vinegars which, for that reason, are not appropriate substitutes for rice vinegars. Vinegar is often infused with spices or herbs—as here, with oregano. ... In its strictest sense fermentation (scientifically called zymosis) is the energy-yielding anaerobic metabolic breakdown of a nutrient molecule, such as glucose, without net oxidation. ... Species Oryza glaberrima Oryza sativa Rice refers to two species (Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima) of grass, native to tropical and subtropical southeastern Asia and to Africa, which together provide more than one fifth of the calories consumed by humans. ... Sake barrels at Itsukushima Shrine Sake (酒; pronounced SAH-KEH in Japanese, but often SAH-ki by English speakers) is a Japanese alcoholic beverage, brewed from rice. ... Sake barrels at Itsukushima Shrine Sake (é…’; pronounced IPA: SAH-KAY in Japanese, but often IPA: SAH-ki by English speakers) is a Japanese alcoholic beverage, brewed from rice. ... The term Western world or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ...

White rice vinegar is a colorless liquid, higher in vinegar content and more similar in flavour to Western vinegars, but still less acidic and milder in flavour.

Black rice vinegar is very popular in southern China. Chinkiang vinegar is considered the best of the black rice vinegars. Normally black rice vinegar is made with glutinous or sweet rice, although millet or sorghum may be used instead. It is dark in colour, and has a deep, almost smoky flavour. Categories: China geography stubs | Cities in China ... Pearl millet in the field Ripe head of proso millet The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. ... Species About 20 species, including: Sorghum almum Sorghum bicolor Sorghum caffrorum Sorghum caudatum Sorghum cernuum Sorghum halepense Sorghum nervosum Sorghum nigricans Sorghum nitidum Sorghum propinquum Sorghum roxburghii Hybrids Sorghum × almum Sorghum × drummondii Sorghum is a genus of about 20 species of grasses, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Eastern...

Red rice vinegar is darker than white rice vinegar, and paler than black rice vinegar, but has a distinctive flavour of its own.

In Chinese cookbooks, 1/2 tablespoon of Western white vinegar is equivalent in strength to 1 tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar. Many Chinese people who grow up with rice vinegars take time to grow accoustomed to the strength of Western vinegars when they start to encounter them.