Malt Vinegar Cole Slaw

More of a rant than a recipe this time. You, dear reader, are warned.

Heinz, Cross & Blackwell, and London Pub are all malt vinegars. In the United States, they may all be nothing more than brand names. That is to say: they are all made by only one company, possibly in more than one location in the US.

I saw I was running low on my gallon of Four Monks Malt Vinegar a few days ago. I had asked the manager of my local Smart & Final market if he had (or could order some). I was told it was no longer made. The last time I purchased a gallon, the other three gallons sat on the condiments shelf for a long time. I know they don't like that. But I can't cook without some malt vinegar, so, I found the gallon jug and learned that it was made by Mizkan. I called Mizkan and got nothing but confusion for my trouble. At first I was told that the Four Monks brand was no longer available. I was told that I had to buy Holland House (comes in 5 fl. oz. bottles). Yet, when I told the lady that I would have to buy "thousands" of them, she changed her story back to the Four Monks name.

I went through all this years ago, trying to find a gallon of malt vinegar. Fleischmann's vinegar is what is in a Heinz malt vinegar bottle. Probably the Four Monks brand as well. For some inexplicable reason, Southern California doesn't use the stuff.

Enough rant

1 head of cabbage (about 2 pounds)

2 carrots

1 red bell pepper - skin peeled off

1 green bell pepper - skin peeled off

8 scallions - white part mostly

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. white pepper

1/2 tsp. onion powder

4 tbs olive oil

2 fl. ozs. malt vinegar
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Additional ingredient (added 8-7-15) much later than the original post)

1 tbs. lemon juice (optional)

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I used a food processor shredding blade on the cabbage and carrots. I minced the white part of the scallions in the food processor with the chopping blade. I diced the bell peppers by hand and into 1/8" cubes.


Mix all, season with the salt and pepper. Stir to incorporate. Add the olive oil and vinegar. Stir. Refrigerate a while before serving.

My Mom's way with this style of cole slaw was to throw a handful of ice cubes into the bowl. They seem to cause the cabbage to wilt faster. The bowl of slaw was refrigerated even with the ice cubes in it.