Stam Yaynam - Vinegarette Dressing

QUESTION: I made a vinaigrette dressing by mixing one part vinegar into more than six parts of water. Afterwards, I realized that the bottle of vinegar was an uncertified wine vinegar (stam yaynam). Is the vinegar batel in the water? Can I still serve the vinaigrette?

ANSWER: Shulchan Aruch (YD 134:5) writes that non-kosher wine is batel in six parts of water. Although in general, non-kosher foods require sixty parts to become batel, non-kosher wine is an exception. Once wine is diluted in to more than six parts water, the wine loses its taste. Does this leniency apply to wine vinegar as well? Rav Schachter explained that one cannot be lenient regarding wine vinegar, since vinegar is “avida l’taama” (strong flavored). Just as the rules of bitul in sixty parts do not apply to other non-kosher foods that have strong flavor, so long as they continue to give taste, the same applies to wine vinegar. So long as the taste of the vinegar is detectable in the water, it will not be batel in six parts or even in sixty parts of water. The vinaigrette dressing must be discarded.

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