Wild, sour, or having a sour taste; relating to vinegar or unripened fruit; also meaning rustic or uncultivated.
From Latin 'agrestis' meaning wild or rustic, derived from 'ager' (field). The sour connotation comes from associations with wild, unripened fruits found in fields.
Medieval monks brewing vinegar called it 'agrest' because it's basically sour wine—but the word also means 'rustic' or 'wild,' so they were calling vinegar 'field-flavored,' acknowledging it as a byproduct of wild fermentation.
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