Cooking Question - Lehigh Acres,FL

I agree with adding some sugar!

Hoping the chili tastes great!

Something similar once happened to me. I always put brown sugar in my chili but I inadvertently added too much. I tried balancing it with more spice but I didn't want it too hot so I split the batch in two, froze half and added more tomatoes and beans.

Now I do this every time I make chili (minus the extra brown sugar:). I make a double "starter" batch of everything except the beans and fake meat (it's veggie chili). The next time I want to make it I have 90% of the work done, just thaw, heat and add the extra toms & beans.

Another hint is to add heat with dried cayenne pepper or hot sauce. Jalapenos are great but once it's all mixed up any source of heat will have the same effect.

Add sugar in some form! I usually put raisins in my chili to balance the spice.

Brown sugar or honey. Start with a small amount and taste as you go. I made chili just last night and my recipe has 2 tsp of red wine vinegar in it.

Often jalapenos from a jar are actually pickled, in a vinegar-based brine. They're rarely just packed in water. So that's likely the source of the vinegar taste.

A few things to try: add a bit of honey or brown sugar (just a small amount, like a teaspoonful to start with, and more if necessary - a little at a time). The sugar will counteract the vinegar. Don't add ketchup or a tomato based sauce, because even though it often will have sugar in it, the acid from the tomatoes will only increase the vinegar.

Another way to decrease the vinegar taste is to add some mild non-acidic ingredients. Add more beans, or meat, or some carrots, or other things that are already in your chili, depending on your recipe.

The third possibility is to let the chili continue to simmer. Increasing the cooking time may help break down the vinegar's acidity and reduce its taste.

You could also add a couple of peeled, whole raw potatoes to the chili. They absorb flavors. Then after an hour or so, remove and discard the potatoes. Then taste the chili, add more salt or cumin or chili powder as needed.

I agree to adding the sugar. I like Sarah L.'s idea of adding raisins, be use those are sweet, and dre similar in texture to beans in chili.

When I need to sweeten my chili because it has too much vinegar, I like using molasses. I use regular molasses, like Grandma's because I find blackstrap molasses to be too strong and overwhelming. Depending on the size of the batch of chili, I tend to use 1 to 3 teaspoons of molasses, but the amount you might need depends on how sweet you want your chili and how much vinegar taste you need to overcome.

Remember, always start with small amounts of sugar. You can always add more sugar, but once the sugar is in, it's in and the damage is done. you can't undo overly sweet chili.

Good luck!