Printed from smellbook.com/smells/vinegar. This printout keeps the entry for Vinegar itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
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A sharp, sour and penetrating smell associated with acidic foods, pickling and household cleaning.
Sharp, sour and penetrating, vinegar hits the nose quickly with an acidic sting that can make the eyes water. EDITORIAL
Named in the VERIFIED claims about this smell: not a list of what it is made of, and not its cause.
Links SmellBook records for this entry: what it comes from, where you meet it, molecules and related smells. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors and VERIFIED links come from VERIFIED claims. Nothing here is a ranking, and a molecule is not presented as the cause of the smell.
QUESTIONS ABOUT VINEGAR
Sharp, sour and penetrating, vinegar hits the nose quickly with an acidic sting that can make the eyes water. Close up it feels thin and piercing; at a distance it becomes a clean, tangy sourness. Fruit and wine vinegars carry a softer, sweeter background, while plain white vinegar is stark and bare. It fades fairly fast in open air but lingers on cloths and hands.
It is met in the kitchen when dressing salads or sprinkling it over fried food, during pickling and preserving, and in household cleaning when it is wiped over glass and tiles. Opening a jar of pickles brings a sharper, more concentrated version.
Typical settings: kitchen, pickling, household cleaning.
SmellBook links it to one place page: see it in Connections.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: Key aroma compounds of an aged vinegar. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
7 molecules are named in this claim; see the evidence for the role the claim gives them. Each molecule this claim names has only the role the claim states; one molecule is not the whole smell.
Vinegar crosses food and household contexts; the intended use should remain visible.
No historical source or heritage record is linked to this entry yet.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 1 claim
Key aroma compounds of an aged vinegar
Recombination and omission experiments showed seven compounds contribute importantly to the aroma of an aged Chinese cereal vinegar: 2,3-butanedione, acetic acid, 2-methylpropanal, sotolon, 2,4,5-trimethyloxazole, 3-methylbutanoic acid and tetramethylpyrazine.
One traditional aged cereal vinegar; fruit, wine and distilled vinegars differ.
How this was found: Odour analysis with human assessors. People smelled the separated compounds or the material itself (for example gas chromatography–olfactometry, dilution analysis, recombination or a sensory panel). Source: primary study; sensory or perception work.
Zhilei Zhou, Dongzhen Jian, Min Gong, Shenghu Zhu, Guoquan Li, Si Zhang, Fang Zhong & Jian Mao
DOI 10.1016/j.foodres.2020.109434Each molecule is named by the claim shown after it. Each molecule named here has only the role the claim states; one molecule is not the whole smell. About molecules in SmellBook
Links chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
Each step is a relationship SmellBook editors recorded in the knowledge graph, named as it is published there. Paths are not ranked or personalised, and they do not mean the smells smell alike.
Each step is a molecule that a VERIFIED claim names for both smells, in whatever role the claims state. Sharing a molecule does not mean two smells smell alike.
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WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Vinegar.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
A state says how an entry is met, such as wet, aged or roasted. It does not create a new smell, and it adds no scientific fact by itself: states marked EDITORIAL come from the entry's own records, and only those marked VERIFIED are reported by a VERIFIED claim.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0057 — Vinegarsmellbook:smell:vinegarhttps://smellbook.com/smells/vinegarSmellBook. (2026). Vinegar (revision 3, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:vinegar. https://smellbook.com/smells/vinegar@misc{smellbook_vinegar_r3,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Vinegar},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 3, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:vinegar},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/vinegar}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-vinegar-r3 TI - Vinegar AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 3 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/vinegar N1 - SB-0057; smellbook:smell:vinegar; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/vinegar ER -
The citation names revision 3 of 2026-10-06, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Vinegar crosses food and household contexts; the intended use should remain visible.
Editorial description expanded to answer what it smells like and where you meet it; independently reviewed.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-06Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30.
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗