Rice vinegar is a cooking ingredient used to season raw foods and cooked dishes. To create rice vinegar, producers ferment the natural sugar in rice or in a rice concentrate. Rice vinegar undergoes a double fermentation process. Like other vinegars, it is mainly water. It may contain seasonings or wine. The rice added to water to make vinegar leaves only trace amounts of the grain’s nutrients after the rice ferments. Like other vinegars, rice vinegar contains citric acid. A by-product of the fermentation process, it gives vinegar its tart taste.
Calories
Because rice vinegars require grain, the total amount of calories they contain depends on the amount of sugar contained in the rice, along with the volume of rice used. The total calories in a 1-tablespoon serving of rice vinegar varies widely. At the lower end, Asian Gourmet rice vinegar has 8 calories per 1-tablespoon serving, according to My Fitness Pal. Marukan seasoned rice vinegar has 25 calories, according to LIVESTRONG.COM's MyPlate. A low-sodium seasoned rice vinegar from Marukan falls near the middle with 15 calories per serving, according to MyFitnessPal.
Sodium
The sodium content of rice vinegar depends on the brand. The Asian Gourmet brand contains 10 milligrams of sodium per tablespoon, while Marukan Lite has 350 milligrams. The Marukan seasoned rice vinegar verified by Livestrong contains 530 milligrams of sodium.
Carbohydrates
Rice vinegar contributes a small amount of carbohydrates to your diet. The Asian Gourmet brand has 2 grams of carbohydrates, which is less than 1 percent of the daily recommended value. The Marukan seasoned rice vinegar has 6 grams, or 2 percent, of the DV. The Marukan Lite rice vinegar has 4 grams of carbohydrates, or 1 percent of the DV. In all of these vinegar brands the sugar content is the source of the carbohydrates.
Considerations
Federal laws do not require food manufacturers to list detailed information for nutrients amounts below 1 percent of the daily value on food labels. The trace amounts of the nutrients in rice vinegars fall below this minimum. To be a good source of any nutrient, a food must provide more than 5 percent of the its recommended daily value for an adult 2,000-calorie diet. Rice vinegar does not contain proteins, vitamins, minerals, fiber, fat or cholesterol at levels that meet this requirement.
References
- The Vinegar Institute: Frequently Asked Questions
- MyFitnessPal: Asian Gourmet - Seasoned Rice Vinegar
- MyFitnessPal: Marukan-Seasoned Rice Vinegar Lite (Low Sodium and Sugar)
- LIVESTRONG.COM MyPlate: Marukan Rice Vinegar
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration; How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label; March 2011
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