NEUTRALIZED VINEGAR CONCENTRATES AND LIQUID FOOD GRADE BLENDS CONTAINING SAID NEUTRALIZED VINEGAR CONCENTRATES

The present invention concerns the field of liquid, concentrated food preservation products, in particular concentrated vinegar products. The present inventors found a way to obtain an excellent concentrated vinegar product by simple evaporation, which concentrated vinegar product can be used as intermediate in the production of products that can be listed on food labels as "vinegar". An essential element of the present invention resides in the neutralization of the vinegar with an alkalizing agent comprising cationic potassium. The present inventors found that potassium neutralized vinegar behaves significantly more favorable than other neutralized vinegars under the conditions typically applied in the process of concentrating by evaporation. Hence, the invention in particular pertains to a process of producing a neutralized vinegar concentrate, to the neutralized vinegar concentrate thus obtained, to blends of the neutralized vinegar concentrate with other food grade ingredients, in particular other food grade organic acids, to the application of the neutralized vinegar concentrate and the blends of this invention in the preservation of food products and to the food products thus obtained.