Household Ingredients Compared  ›  Vinegar (Singapore)

Vinegar: what's actually in it?

One word covers at least four different products. A plain vinegar is just fermented liquid diluted to a stated acidity — distilled white vinegar, unseasoned rice vinegar and plain apple cider vinegar are all in this group, and their lists are one or two lines long. A seasoned vinegar is a plain vinegar with sugar and salt already mixed in — seasoned rice vinegar (sushi vinegar) is the main example here, and its list is a seasoning list, not a plain-vinegar list. A dark, sweet vinegar — balsamic, sweetened black vinegar, spiced coconut vinegar — gets much of its character from grape must, sugar or spices, and its list reads more like a sauce. And an artificial (imitation) white vinegar is not fermented at all: it is acetic acid diluted with water, and the bottle says so. The front of the bottle rarely makes the distinction clear; the ingredient list and the acidity figure do.

This page covers vinegar sold in Singapore — distilled white vinegar, rice vinegar (seasoned and unseasoned), apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, malt vinegar, wine vinegar, black vinegar (Chinese), coconut/palm and cane vinegar, and sweetened vinegar. It does not cover soy sauce (its own page), cooking wine or mirin, pickled products, or vinegar-based dressings and sauces. This page does not give a health score or a "best" pick.

The headline, in 30 seconds

• Only two products on this page have Singapore sale confirmed by a retrieved source. Chinkiang Vinegar 550ml is panelled from an Open Food Facts entry that lists Singapore as the country where sold, and Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar is confirmed on sale in Singapore via iHerb Singapore and Shopee Singapore. Every other panel is a flagged non-Singapore list whose Singapore sale was not verified in this pass — see each card.
• Plain vinegars are one or two ingredients. Heinz distilled white vinegar is a single line (distilled white vinegar diluted with water to 5% acidity); Kikkoman and Mizkan unseasoned rice vinegars are rice vinegar and water at about 4.2% acidity; Bragg apple cider vinegar is organic raw apple cider vinegar and water at 5% acidity.
• Seasoned rice vinegar is a different product from plain rice vinegar, and the sugar and salt are the point. Mizkan seasoned rice vinegar lists invert sugar and brown sugar plus salt at 4% acidity; Kikkoman seasoned lists sugar and salt — and different US label captures disagree on whether Kikkoman uses sugar or invert sugar, so the conflict is stated on the card, not resolved.
• The two Chinkiang (black) vinegars panelled here do not agree with each other. The Singapore-sold 550ml bottle lists "WATER, GLUTINOUS RICE, WHEAT BRAN, SUGAR SALT" with salt 1.65 g per 100 ml; the Hengshun 550ml bottle lists water, glutinous rice 25%, wheat bran, white sugar, salt with salt 0.15 g per 100 ml — an eleven-fold difference in salt between two bottles of the same style. Do not copy one list onto the other.
• Balsamic is where the sugar lives. De Nigris Aceto Balsamico lists 65% cooked grape must and 58 g sugars per 100 ml; Bertolli Balsamic Vinegar of Modena lists wine vinegar, concentrated grape must and caramel colour with 13.3 g sugars per 100 ml. Same category name, very different lists — check the grape-must figure, not the word "balsamic".
• Most plain vinegars have negligible nutrition, and the table shows that plainly rather than padding it. Distilled white vinegar, apple cider vinegar and plain rice vinegar table at or near zero for energy, fat, protein and sugars. The numbers that do move are the seasoned vinegars' sugars and salt, and the black vinegars' salt.
• No Singapore retailer ingredient section was retrievable for this category. FairPrice publishes ingredient sections for some products, but none was retrieved for any vinegar in this pass; Cold Storage publishes none at all. The FairPrice search did confirm Chung Hwa Artificial White Vinegar and Pai Chia Chen fruit drinking vinegar on sale in Singapore, but with no verbatim list retrieved for either, so both sit in seen-but-not-verified.

At a glance

Panelled with verbatim lists: 19 products — 2 with Singapore sale confirmed (Chinkiang Vinegar 550ml, Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar 473ml) and 17 flagged non-Singapore-list reference panels whose Singapore sale was not verified in this pass. No product is panelled from a Singapore retailer ingredient section; the two Singapore-confirmed panels rest on an Open Food Facts Singapore entry and on brand/distributor lists plus Singapore sale listings. Seen-but-not-verified: see the list below.

Prices are deliberately not shown here: they change weekly and would go stale. This site compares ingredients only.

Black vinegar — Chinkiang and black rice vinegar

White rice vinegar — unseasoned

Seasoned rice vinegar (sushi vinegar)

Apple cider vinegar

Distilled white vinegar

Balsamic vinegar

Malt vinegar and cane vinegar

Seen but not verified — do not panel until checked

• Chung Hwa Artificial White Vinegar 5L and 0.64kg (FairPrice) — confirmed on sale at FairPrice Singapore (FairPrice search results list both sizes); no verbatim list retrieved in this pass. "Artificial" white vinegar is by definition acetic acid diluted with water rather than fermented, but the bottle's own list is still needed before it is panelled — do not copy the Heinz distilled list onto it.
• Pai Chia Chen Fruit Drinking Vinegar — Plum, 2 x 600ml (FairPrice) — confirmed on sale at FairPrice Singapore (FairPrice product page); no verbatim list retrieved. A fruit vinegar drink, diluted 1:5 with water per the FairPrice description — a drinking vinegar, not a cooking vinegar, and listed here so it is not mistaken for a missing cooking vinegar.
• Lee Kum Kee Seasoned Rice Vinegar (Table Top range, 120ml/207ml) — Lee Kum Kee UK describes it as made from Zhenjiang vinegar, sweet, tangy and slightly smoky, suitable for vegans; no verbatim list retrieved in this pass. Do not copy the plain Lee Kum Kee rice vinegar list ("WATER, RICE, SALT") onto it.
• Lee Kum Kee Seasoned Rice Vinegar — Singapore pack — no Singapore listing or list retrieved; the UK description above is the only source. Needs an SG pack photo.
• Pearl River Bridge Red Vinegar — the brand's own site describes a red vinegar with pure red colour, mellow taste, for dipping seafood, dumplings and noodles; no verbatim list retrieved in this pass. Do not copy the rice vinegar or sweetened vinegar lists onto it.
• Gold Plum (金梅) Chinkiang Vinegar — repeatedly recommended as the widely available Chinkiang brand alongside Hengshun (Red House Spice, China Sichuan Food, Consillar); no verbatim list and no Singapore sale listing retrieved in this pass. Not panelled.
• Koon Chun Diluted Black Rice Vinegar — named in a black-rice-vinegar round-up as a milder option; no verbatim list and no Singapore sale evidence retrieved in this pass. Not panelled.
• Shanxi Mature Vinegar (e.g. Ninghuafu) and Baoning Vinegar — two of China's Four Famous Vinegars alongside Zhenjiang/Chinkiang; no verbatim list and no Singapore sale evidence retrieved in this pass. Not panelled.
• Datu Puti Vinegar (cane), Datu Puti Coconut Vinegar, Datu Puti Spiced Coconut (Pinakurat) Vinegar — the leading Filipino vinegar brand (NutriAsia); secondary reports put the plain cane vinegar at 5% acidity and describe the spiced version as coconut (tuba) vinegar with ginger, chillies, garlic, onion, sweet peppers, sugar and salt, but no verbatim label list was retrieved in this pass and no Singapore sale listing was found. Not panelled.
• Silver Swan Sukang Puti, Silver Swan Sukang-Hang (spiced coconut vinegar) — NutriAsia brand site lists both; no verbatim list retrieved in this pass and no Singapore sale confirmed. Not panelled; do not copy the cane vinegar list onto either.
• Mizkan Shiragiku Rice Vinegar / Shiragiku Sushi Seasoning; Mizkan Sakura Rice Vinegar; Mizkan Fuji Vinegar Seasoning; Mizkan Suehiro Grain Vinegar — Mizkan's own Asia and US foodservice pages describe these (Shiragiku unseasoned with sake-lees character; Sakura 100% rice with salt at 4.2%; Fuji a distilled/rice blend with refiners' syrup and salt at 4.2%; Suehiro a grain vinegar with wheat, sake cake, rice and corn at 4.2%) and give ingredient lines for the US foodservice versions, but the retail Singapore packs were not identified and no Singapore sale was confirmed for any of them in this pass. The Australian distributor specification for a Mizkan "Rice Vinegar" (energy 107 kJ, protein 0.3 g, fat 0 g, carbohydrates 7.1 g, sugars 4.2 g, sodium 3 mg per 100ml) is recorded in the research notes, not tabled, because its ingredient line (grain-based, with wheat) conflicts with the 100%-rice US list.
• Marukan Rice Vinegar (unseasoned) and Marukan Seasoned Gourmet Rice Vinegar (Sushi-Su) — a Japanese rice-vinegar brand since 1649, repeatedly recommended for sushi; no verbatim list and no Singapore sale evidence retrieved in this pass. The Vitco Foods specification for Marukan Sushi-Su ("Rice Vinegar, Sugar, Salt, Water", total acidity 3.45–3.55%, total sugar 48.0–52.0%, salt 12.0–12.5%) is recorded in the research notes, not panelled.
• Kikkoman Seasoning for Sushi Rice 300ml / 125ml (European formulation) — Kikkoman Europe lists "Water, Sugar, Rice vinegar (26%), Salt" for 300ml and "Rice Vinegar (50%), Sugar, Water, Salt" for 125ml; the two sizes disagree on the order and the rice-vinegar percentage, and no Singapore sale was confirmed in this pass. Not panelled as SG products; the conflict is recorded here and in the research notes.
• Heinz Malt Vinegar 568ml; Heinz Cleaning Vinegar 6% — Heinz malt vinegar is listed by UK retailers; the cleaning vinegar is a 6% household product, not food. Neither was confirmed on sale in Singapore in this pass; the cleaning vinegar is out of scope as a food product in any case.
• Sarson's Distilled Malt Vinegar 568ml; Sarson's Seasoned Malt Vinegar — distilled malt vinegar lists "Distilled Barley Malt Vinegar" (McGrocer, UK); the seasoned version lists "Barley Malt Vinegar, Salt, Yeast Extract" (Sarson's own site). No Singapore sale confirmed for either in this pass. Not panelled; do not copy the brown malt list onto either.
• Bertolli Balsamic Glaze 200ml; Bertolli White Wine Vinegar 500ml — the glaze lists cooked grape must, balsamic vinegar of Modena 38% (wine vinegar, concentrated grape must, cooked grape must, caramel color), wine vinegar, caramel color, modified corn starch, xanthan gum (Open Food Facts); the white wine vinegar lists white wine vinegar, concentrated grape must 35% and sulphur dioxide (Open Food Facts, German entry). No Singapore sale confirmed for either in this pass. The glaze is a glaze, not a straight vinegar, and is listed here so it is not mistaken for the Bertolli balsamic panel.
• De Nigris Balsamic Vinegar of Modena variants (Orange Eagle, Yellow Eagle, aged 25 years, spray) — brand range only; no per-variant verbatim list retrieved in this pass. Not panelled; do not copy the 250ml Aceto Balsamico list onto them.
• Colavita, Kirkland Signature, Napa Valley Naturals, Primal Kitchen, Madhava balsamic vinegars — Kirkland's list is "cooked and concentrated grape must, red wine vinegar" (Open Food Facts); the others are listed on iHerb's vinegar category page. No Singapore sale confirmed for any in this pass. Not panelled.
• Dynamic Health Apple Cider Vinegar with Mother 473ml — listed on iHerb Singapore's apple cider vinegar category page; no verbatim list retrieved in this pass. Not panelled.
• Red wine vinegar and white wine vinegar generally (no brand pinned down) — no Singapore retailer listing with a verbatim list was retrieved for any red or white wine vinegar in this pass, other than the Bertolli white wine vinegar entry noted above. The wine-vinegar shelf needs an in-store check.
• Coconut/palm vinegar generally (other than Silver Swan/Datu Puti, above) — no Singapore listing with a verbatim list retrieved in this pass. The Filipino-grocery shelf in Singapore (Mustafa, Lucky Plaza, Filipino grocers) needs an in-store check.
• FairPrice house-brand vinegar; Giant, Sheng Siong, Mustafa, Meidi-Ya, Le Petit Depot, Little Farms house-brand and import vinegar ranges; Don Don Donki Japanese vinegar range — no named vinegar product with a retrievable verbatim list was found for any of these channels in this web pass. That is a gap in this page, not evidence that nothing is sold there: Donki and Meidi-Ya in particular sell Japanese vinegars (Mizkan, Mitsukan and others) that need an in-store shelf check and pack photos. See research notes.

Nutrition — what the numbers say

All figures in the table are as sold, per 100 ml, except the two rows flagged as per serving as printed, not converted (Bragg, Monari Federzoni). Most plain vinegars have negligible nutrition — the table shows that plainly: distilled white vinegar, apple cider vinegar and plain rice vinegar sit at or near zero for energy, fat, protein and sugars, and no figures have been invented or padded to fill the table. No official Singapore Nutri-Grade (A–D) was found printed on any vinegar listing in this pass, so none is quoted here; no grade has been assigned. (Nutri-Grade is a drinks grading scheme and does not apply to vinegar in any case.)

Salt and sodium: salt = sodium × 2.5. The table shows sodium as printed (in mg) with the salt equivalent in brackets. Where a source printed salt rather than sodium, sodium is derived as salt ÷ 2.5 and flagged as derived.

Total vs added sugars: most Singapore packs list total sugars, not added sugars. A total-sugars figure is never labelled here as "added sugar". Where a source states an added-sugars figure separately (Bertolli balsamic: 13.3 g added sugars per 100ml per Open Food Facts), it is noted. The ingredient list remains the evidence for added sugar (sugar, invert sugar, brown sugar, grape must) versus naturally occurring sugars.

Open Food Facts is a community database and is flagged as secondary where used: the pack and the retailer nutrition section take precedence if they disagree. Figures marked "not stated" were not in the source retrieved; they are not estimated, borrowed from another variant, or copied across flavours. Two figures are quoted as printed even though they look wrong, and flagged as such: Sarson's Malt Vinegar prints energy as "999 kJ (10 kcal)", which do not agree with each other; Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar prints 0 kcal and 0 g for every nutrient, which reads as a rounded or placeholder panel. Neither figure has been corrected.

Observed numbers, no verdict: De Nigris Aceto Balsamico lists 58 g sugars per 100ml, against 13.3 g for Bertolli balsamic — the same category name, a four-fold difference, tracking the 65% cooked grape must against Bertolli's wine-vinegar-first list. Among the seasoned rice vinegars, Kikkoman lists 26.7 g sugars and 8.5 g salt per 100ml, against Mizkan's 21.1 g sugars with salt not stated — but the two lists disagree on the sweetener (see the Kikkoman card), so the numbers belong to different label captures and should not be treated as a clean head-to-head. The three black vinegars tabled per 100ml span salt 0.15 g (Hengshun) to 1.65 g (Singapore-sold Chinkiang) — the widest spread on the page for a single style. Plain vinegars table at or near zero throughout: Pearl River Bridge rice vinegar 15 kcal, 0 g sugars, 0 g salt; Heinz apple cider vinegar 0 kcal and 0 g across the panel as printed.

Seen but not verified (nutrition): no per-100 ml nutrition panel was verified in this pass for Heinz Distilled White Vinegar, Kikkoman Rice Vinegar (unseasoned), Mizkan Rice Vinegar (unseasoned), Lee Kum Kee Rice Vinegar, Tung Chun Black Rice Vinegar 500ml, Pearl River Bridge Sweetened Vinegar 500ml, Silver Swan Cane Vinegar, Chung Hwa Artificial White Vinegar, Pai Chia Chen Fruit Drinking Vinegar — Plum, Lee Kum Kee Seasoned Rice Vinegar, Pearl River Bridge Red Vinegar, Gold Plum Chinkiang Vinegar, Koon Chun Diluted Black Rice Vinegar, Shanxi Mature and Baoning vinegars, Datu Puti vinegars, Silver Swan Sukang Puti / Sukang-Hang, Mizkan Shiragiku / Sakura / Fuji / Suehiro vinegars, Marukan rice vinegars, Kikkoman Seasoning for Sushi Rice (European), Heinz Malt Vinegar, Sarson's Distilled / Seasoned Malt Vinegar, Bertolli Balsamic Glaze / White Wine Vinegar, De Nigris balsamic variants, Colavita / Kirkland / Napa Valley Naturals / Primal Kitchen / Madhava balsamics, Dynamic Health Apple Cider Vinegar, any red or white wine vinegar, and any other coconut/palm vinegar. Their ingredient panels (where panelled) are unchanged; their nutrition figures are not estimated here. The Australian distributor specification for a Mizkan "Rice Vinegar" (107 kJ, protein 0.3 g, fat 0 g, carbohydrates 7.1 g, sugars 4.2 g, sodium 3 mg per 100ml) and the Vitco Foods specification for Marukan Sushi-Su (total acidity 3.45–3.55%, total sugar 48.0–52.0%, salt 12.0–12.5%) are recorded in the research notes, not tabled, because each conflicts with the panelled list for the same brand.

How to read a vinegar label — the jargon, in plain English

Acidity % / grain

The acetic-acid strength of the vinegar. 5% acidity = 50 grain; 4.2% = 42 grain. Plain table vinegars are usually 4–5%; seasoned rice vinegar is lower (about 4%) because sugar and salt make up part of the bottle; cleaning vinegar at 6% is stronger and is not food. The acidity figure is the single most useful number on a vinegar label.

Seasoned vs unseasoned rice vinegar

Unseasoned rice vinegar is just rice vinegar and water. Seasoned (sushi) vinegar has sugar and salt already mixed in — it is a ready-made sushi-rice seasoning, not a plain vinegar, and its sugars (21–27 g per 100ml in the two tabled here) and salt come from the seasoning, not the rice.

Distilled / spirit vinegar vs brewed vinegar

Distilled white vinegar is made by fermenting grain alcohol and distilling it — the result is neutral, colourless, and a single-line list. Brewed vinegars (rice, malt, cider, wine, black) keep flavour from their starting material — rice, barley malt, apples, grapes, glutinous rice — and their lists name it.

Artificial / imitation vinegar

Not fermented: acetic acid diluted with water. Chung Hwa Artificial White Vinegar at FairPrice is the Singapore example on this page. The word "artificial" on the label is the tell — do not assume it is the same product as distilled white vinegar.

Chinkiang / Zhenjiang vinegar

Black vinegar from Zhenjiang (formerly Chinkiang), Jiangsu, China — glutinous rice, wheat bran, sugar and salt, aged for months to years. The two bottles panelled here have the same ingredients in the same order but very different salt figures (1.65 g vs 0.15 g per 100ml), so "Chinkiang" is a style, not a single recipe.

Grape must / cooked grape must / concentrated grape must

Grape must is freshly crushed grape juice (skins, seeds, stems and all). Cooked grape must is must reduced by heating; concentrated grape must is must with water removed. Balsamic vinegar is grape must plus wine vinegar — the must percentage is what drives the sugars, which is why De Nigris at 65% cooked must tables at 58 g sugars per 100ml while Bertolli, wine-vinegar-first, tables at 13.3 g.

"The Mother"

The cloudy strands of acetic-acid bacteria, cellulose and enzymes in raw, unfiltered, unpasteurised apple cider vinegar (Bragg). Filtered cider vinegar (Heinz) has none. It is a processing difference, not an ingredient — the list is the same either way.

E150a / E150c / E150d (caramel colour)

Colours added to darken a vinegar: E150a plain caramel, E150c ammonia caramel, E150d sulphite ammonia caramel. They appear in the balsamic and black-vinegar lists on this page (HT Brand, Tung Chun, Pearl River Bridge sweetened, Bertolli, Monari Federzoni). A vinegar that needs added caramel is not getting its colour from ageing alone.

E260 / E330

Acidity regulators: E260 is acetic acid itself, E330 is citric acid. Tung Chun black rice vinegar lists both — the regulators, not fermentation, supply part of its acidity, which is why its rice-vinegar content is only 10%.

Sukang maasim / sukang puti / sukang tuba

Filipino vinegar names: sukang maasim or sukang puti is cane vinegar (sugarcane juice, e.g. Datu Puti, Silver Swan cane); sukang tuba is coconut-sap vinegar (e.g. Datu Puti spiced coconut / Pinakurat). Coconut-water vinegar is a third, lighter product fermented from the water inside the nut, not the sap — the bottle should say which one it is.

What this page is not

• Not a health score, and not a "best" pick. Plain, seasoned, balsamic and black vinegars are different products, and this page does not rank them.
• Not a taste test, and not a price comparison. Prices change weekly; ingredients change less often, but still change.
• Not complete. Only two products have Singapore sale confirmed by a retrieved source, no product is panelled from a Singapore retailer ingredient section, and the FairPrice, Cold Storage, Giant, Sheng Siong, Don Don Donki, Mustafa, Meidi-Ya, Le Petit Depot, Little Farms, RedMart and Lazada vinegar shelves were not inventoried with verified lists in this pass. The gaps are listed above, not hidden.

Sources and method

Checked 5–6 November 2026 from: Open Food Facts (Chinkiang Vinegar 550ml Singapore entry barcode 8888380328813; Pearl River Bridge Rice Vinegar 500ml barcode 6921180880791; Hengshun Chinkiang Vinegar 550ml barcode 6902007505264; HT Brand Black Rice Vinegar 450ml barcode 6902265607014; Tung Chun Black Rice Vinegar 500ml barcode 0726003023364; Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar barcode 1300000812; De Nigris Aceto Balsamico 250ml barcode 8032754439760; Bertolli Balsamic Vinegar of Modena barcode 0041790602784; Sarson's Malt Vinegar 568ml barcode 5060336500082; Mizkan Seasoned Rice Vinegar barcode 0073575221026; Kikkoman Seasoned Rice Vinegar barcode 0004139002032; plus Bertolli Balsamic Glaze, Bertolli White Wine Vinegar, Monari Federzoni and Kirkland entries noted in seen-but-not-verified); Bragg brand site and distributor item specification for Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar; Kikkoman USA food-manufacturer specification and Kikkoman Europe product pages for Kikkoman rice and seasoned rice vinegar; Mizkan USA foodservice and Mizkan Asia pages for Mizkan rice and seasoned rice vinegar; Lee Kum Kee nutrition document (WebstaurantStore) for Lee Kum Kee Rice Vinegar; Henderson Foodservice specification for Pearl River Bridge Sweetened Vinegar; Pearl River Bridge brand site for rice, red and sweetened vinegar descriptions; EWG/LabelINSIGHT for Silver Swan Cane Vinegar and Kikkoman seasoned label variants; Prospre/USDA for Monari Federzoni balsamic and Bragg per-serving nutrition; iHerb Singapore and Shopee Singapore listings for Bragg sale confirmation; FairPrice search results for Chung Hwa Artificial White Vinegar and Pai Chia Chen Fruit Drinking Vinegar — Plum. Web search only — no in-store shelf check and no pack photos in this pass. Cold Storage publishes no ingredient list on any product page, so its shelf is inventoried from listings only. Full per-fact source list is in the accompanying research notes. Nutrition section added 5–6 November 2026: figures are standardised to per 100 ml where the source gives per-100 figures; per-serving-only figures are labelled as such and are not converted; sugars are total sugars as printed, not added sugars, unless the source states added sugars; salt = sodium × 2.5. Where a full pack list could not be verified, the product is in seen-but-not-verified instead of being panelled.