Is White Wine Vinegar Halal? The Scholarly Views
White wine vinegar is made by turning white wine into vinegar [1]. The Hanafi school allows it whether the change was natural or deliberate [3]. Shafi'i and Hanbali scholars allow only wine that became vinegar on its own, and most commercial wine vinegar is made on purpose [2][3]. If you're unsure, ask a scholar you trust.
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What the schools of thought say
| School | View | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hanafi | Permissible. Wine turned into vinegar may be consumed, whether it changed naturally or was deliberately converted. | [3] |
| Shafi'i | Permissible only if the wine became vinegar on its own. If something was added to convert it, the vinegar stays impure. | [2][3] |
| Hanbali | Deliberate conversion is prohibited, and so is the vinegar it produces. | [2][3] |
| Maliki | Reports differ. Some Malikis reject deliberate conversion; one report says the conversion is disliked but the vinegar may be consumed. | [2][3] |
How white wine vinegar is made
Vinegar is made in two steps. First, yeast turns the sugar in fruit into alcohol. Then acetic acid bacteria turn that alcohol into acetic acid [1]. For white wine vinegar, the starting point is finished white wine.
Modern producers speed things up. The fast or submerged method adds a vinegar starter culture to the wine and pumps in air, so the change takes a day or two instead of months [1]. Better vinegars may be aged in wood for up to two years [1].
This matters for the halal question. Commercial white wine vinegar is almost always wine that was deliberately turned into vinegar, not wine that soured by accident.
Why the schools disagree
Scholars agree that wine which turns into vinegar on its own is permissible to eat [2]. The disagreement is about deliberate conversion.
IslamQA reports a hadith in Sahih Muslim in which the Prophet was asked whether wine could be made into vinegar and said no [2]. The Shafi'i and Hanbali schools, and some Malikis, take this literally: wine you convert on purpose is still impure [2].
The Hanafi school reads the evidence differently. Darul Iftaa Birmingham explains that Abu Hanifa allowed vinegar from wine either way. It cites a report from Aisha that there is nothing wrong with it because it is food [3]. Hanafis see the hadith as part of an early, strict stage of the alcohol ban [3].
National fatwa bodies follow these lines too. A University of Malaya study found that Malaysia, which follows the Shafi'i school, allows wine vinegar only when it changed naturally, while Indonesia allows both [4].
What about traces of alcohol?
Vinegar can hold a small trace of alcohol that did not finish converting. This trace does not make it intoxicating, and the scholarly debate above is about how the vinegar was made, not about the trace [2]. If you want a figure for comparison, the official rules for Balsamic Vinegar of Modena cap alcohol at 1.5% by volume [5].
Vinegar is very different from adding wine to a dish. Wine used in cooking keeps part of its alcohol. See our cooking wine page.
Where white wine vinegar shows up
White wine vinegar is common in:
- Salad dressings and vinaigrettes
- Mayonnaise and aioli (see mayonnaise)
- Dijon mustard (see Dijon mustard)
- Pickles, sauces and marinades
US labels often just say "vinegar." If the type matters to you, check the full ingredient list or contact the maker. Buying vinegar is allowed unless you know or suspect it was made deliberately from wine, according to one view [2].
Alternatives
If you follow the Shafi'i or Hanbali view, you can swap in apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar or distilled vinegar. They have a similar sharpness. Lemon juice also works in many dressings. See our guides to vinegar, apple cider vinegar and red wine vinegar.
Frequently asked questions
Is white wine vinegar haram?
Does white wine vinegar have alcohol in it?
Is white wine vinegar the same as white vinegar?
No. White wine vinegar is made from white wine [1]. Plain white or distilled vinegar is usually made from other sources, so the wine question does not apply to it. Read the label to be sure.
Is red wine vinegar different from white wine vinegar?
Only in the type of wine used. Both are made the same way, by turning wine into vinegar with acetic acid bacteria [1], so the same scholarly views apply. See our red wine vinegar page.
Sources
- Vinegar · Wikipedia · accessed
- Is Wine Vinegar Halal? · IslamQA · accessed
- Ruling on vinegar made from wine · Darul Iftaa Birmingham (via IslamQA.org) · accessed
- Cuka Wain Dari Perspektif Islam: Analisis Fatwa Malaysia Dan Indonesia · Jurnal Fiqh, University of Malaya · accessed
- Balsamic vinegar of Modena · Wikipedia · accessed