Persimmon Vinegar substitute

Best substitute

Unseasoned Rice Vinegar Plus A Pinch Of Sugar

1 tbsp rice vinegar + ¼ tsp sugar for every 1 tbsp persimmon vinegar

Best for naengmyeon and cold noodle broth

Close match

The most reliable swap and the one used in Korean home kitchens when the persimmon bottle runs out. Rice vinegar has the same soft, low-aggression acidity, and the sugar stands in for the persimmon's natural fruit sweetness. A cold noodle broth made this way tastes right: clean, tangy, refreshing, just without the faint honeyed fruit note in the background.

Other persimmon vinegar substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Apple Cider Vinegar
Different taste
Use the same amount
Fruity, cloudy and comparable in gentleness, and available anywhere.
What changes
The apple flavour is noticeably more definite than persimmon's soft, almost floral sweetness, so a spinach or bean sprout muchim comes out tasting slightly Western and orchard-like rather than mellow and Korean. A pinch of sugar helps round it off.
Best for
muchim, salad dressings, marinades for pork and chicken, braised dishes
Cider vinegar is a bit sharper than most persimmon vinegar. If the dish tastes too bracing, add a few drops of water or a little more sugar.
3Rice Vinegar Plus A Spoonful Of Fruit Puree
Different texture
1 tbsp rice vinegar + 1 tsp pear, apple or persimmon puree for every 1 tbsp persimmon vinegar
The closest you can get to the real thing without the bottle.
What changes
Korean cooking already uses grated Asian pear constantly, and its mild honeyed sweetness is genuinely similar to ripe persimmon. The result is very close in flavour, slightly thicker and a shade cloudier, which is fine in a dressing and less ideal in a clear broth.
Best for
dressings and muchim, marinades for bulgogi and galbi, dipping sauces, cold vegetable dishes
Grate the fruit finely and strain if you want it clear. Asian pear is the most authentic, ripe persimmon the most exact, and plain apple works fine.
4Brown Rice Vinegar
Different taste
Use the same amount
Deeper and nuttier than plain rice vinegar with a slightly amber colour, which is closer to persimmon vinegar's look.
What changes
The flavour leans toasty and grainy rather than fruity, so a cold noodle broth made with it tastes rounder and a little more savoury and less refreshingly fruity, which some people actually prefer.
Best for
cold noodle broths, braised dishes, dressings with sesame oil, dipping sauces
A good match in anything that already contains sesame oil or soy sauce, where its nuttiness fits in naturally.
5White Wine Vinegar, Diluted And Sweetened
Different taste
2 ½ tsp white wine vinegar + ½ tsp water + ¼ tsp sugar for every 1 tbsp persimmon vinegar
A workable cupboard option.
What changes
White wine vinegar is sharper and more grape-forward, so diluting it slightly brings the strength into range and the sugar softens the edge. A muchim made with it tastes crisp and clean but distinctly European in its acidity, without any of the mellow fruit.
Best for
dressings, cold salads, marinades
Champagne vinegar is a better choice if you have it, being naturally milder and needing no dilution.
6Distilled White Vinegar, Well Diluted
Different taste
2 tsp white vinegar + 1 tsp water + ¼ tsp sugar for every 1 tbsp persimmon vinegar
Worth being blunt about: this is the least-good option and there is no way to make it taste like persimmon vinegar.
What changes
It provides sourness with none of the fruit, sweetness or softness, so a cold noodle broth made from it tastes harsh and chemical, which is very noticeable in a dish served cold with nothing cooked to hide behind. Use it only if it is all you own.
Best for
heavily seasoned cooked dishes as a last resort
If you must, dilute generously, sweeten, and add a squeeze of lemon or a little grated apple to distract from the sharpness.

What is Persimmon Vinegar?

Persimmon Vinegar is Persimmon vinegar is a mild, fruity Korean vinegar fermented from ripe persimmons, sold as gam sikcho and used in cold noodle broths, seasoned vegetable dishes and dressings.

Cooking tips

Persimmon vinegar's job is gentle acidity plus fruity sweetness. That is why it turns up in dishes served cold, where there is no cooking to soften a harsh vinegar and the acid is tasted directly. Any substitute needs to be mild, and if it is not, dilute it.
In naengmyeon broth the balance is a three-way negotiation between vinegar, sugar and mustard oil or hot mustard. Change the vinegar and you almost always need to retune the sugar, so taste the broth cold before serving, since chilling makes acidity read sharper and sweetness read weaker.
Add it at the end, off the heat. Persimmon vinegar's appeal is its aroma, and simmering drives that off and leaves plain sourness behind.
Grated Asian pear or apple is the classic Korean trick for adding fruity sweetness, and it is genuinely how you make a substitute vinegar taste more like persimmon vinegar. A teaspoon of grated pear per tablespoon of rice vinegar closes most of the gap.
Korean persimmon vinegar is often sold as a health drink to be diluted with water, and those bottles can be sweetened or blended. Read the label before cooking with one, because a sweetened drinking vinegar will throw the seasoning of a savoury dish. Never use a drinking vinegar, or any vinegar of unknown acidity, in a pickling or canning recipe, and follow tested recipes exactly as written. See the National Center for Home Food Preservation for guidance.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave persimmon vinegar out?

In a cold noodle broth or a muchim, no, because the vinegar is the flavour that makes the dish taste refreshing rather than bland. Use rice vinegar with a pinch of sugar instead, which takes seconds. Where it appears as one element in a marinade that already has soy sauce, pear and garlic, you can leave it out and the result will simply be a little less bright.

What is gam sikcho?

Gam sikcho is the Korean name for persimmon vinegar, gam meaning persimmon and sikcho meaning vinegar. You may also see it labelled hongsi vinegar, after the soft, fully ripe persimmon it is often made from. All of these mean the same thing for cooking purposes, and the substitutions above apply to all of them.

Is persimmon vinegar sweet?

Mildly, not like a syrup. It has a soft fruity sweetness sitting behind a gentle sourness, closer to rice vinegar than to balsamic. That is why the standard substitute is rice vinegar with just a quarter teaspoon of sugar per tablespoon rather than anything heavily sweetened.

Can I make persimmon vinegar at home?

Traditionally people do, by letting very ripe persimmons ferment in a covered jar for months, and there is a long Korean home tradition of it. It is a slow project rather than a solution for tonight's dinner, and the resulting vinegar has an unknown acidity, so keep it for dressings and refrigerated dishes and never use it for canning or shelf-stable pickles.

What should I use for naengmyeon broth specifically?

Unseasoned rice vinegar with a little sugar, added to the cold broth just before serving so the sharpness stays lively. Taste it cold, not warm, because cold blunts sweetness and accentuates acid. Many Korean cooks also add a teaspoon of grated Asian pear, which brings the fruity roundness persimmon vinegar would have provided.

Related substitutes

More alcohol & vinegars substitutes

Persimmon Vinegar substitute

Other persimmon vinegar substitutes

2Apple Cider Vinegar

3Rice Vinegar Plus A Spoonful Of Fruit Puree

4Brown Rice Vinegar

5White Wine Vinegar, Diluted And Sweetened

6Distilled White Vinegar, Well Diluted