crystallizing malt vinegar

In my persuit to perfect the french fry I would like to crystallize malt vinegar to sprinkle on with the salt just after coming out of the fryer.

Does anybody know a good method for this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Googling around I didn't see anything I would try - but you could try using other forms of crystallized acid, like Citric Acid or Cream of Tartar in very small amounts (Citric Acid is the sour component in most super-sour candy flavors) Maybe you could add a little barley malt powder to get the right flavor?

Mhays wrote:Googling around I didn't see anything I would try - but you could try using other forms of crystallized acid, like Citric Acid or Cream of Tartar in very small amounts (Citric Acid is the sour component in most super-sour candy flavors) Maybe you could add a little barley malt powder to get the right flavor?

I was trying to think how a high end salt and vinegar chip is made. Do you think they use a similar method? I have yet to have a Salt and vinegar chip that truly captures the vinegar essence but I figured if I could do small batches at home I could improve on the quality.

The idea is to try to get that vinegar essence on a fry without spoiling the crunch of a perfect french fry.

You can buy powdered vinegar... it's made using maltodextrin somehow, but I don't know the details. You could buy some maltodextrin and experiment. It's pretty widely available.

Kettle brand lists vinegar powder AND citric acid in its ingredients list; Lay's Dill Pickle flavor interestingly contains "vinegar solids" (I wonder if that's dried mother-of-vinegar?) but their Salt-And-Vinegar chips are made with sodium citrate. Cape Cod contain "vinegar solids" as well.

A shopping google search brought up vinegar powder online, but I wonder if you could get the same result by marinating your raw fries before they're cooked (I mean, you wash them anyway to remove starch, right?) I bet you could still do the seasoning with very sparing amounts of citric acid, which is readily accessible at stores selling Middle Eastern groceries.

myspicer.com carries some vinegar powders. Otherwise, as gleam said you can use maltodextrin to create your own.

For those interested...
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_2_41/ai_n27117039/

I want to try to make my own but I don't have a dehydrator so that may have to wait until I get one.