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Homemade Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

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Ingredients

  • Ingredients
  • apple peels cores, hulls, and seeds left over from processing apples - OR - you can just chop up some apples, enough to fill your jar about halfway or more (Please be sure to read notes section before making this recipe.)
  • sugar-water at a ratio of 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1 quart non-chlorinated water as much as you need to mostly fill your jar
  • store bought Apple Cider Vinegar - the RAW kind which contains the "mother" - you will need to add 3 tablespoons ACV per quart of water you add to the jar. This serves as a starter culture and helps with acidity.
  • Equipment
  • a large glass jar - I use a 3-quart jar I found at a discount store but you can use 1/2 gallon or even 1 gallon jars, whichever you prefer.
  • knife and cutting board if chopping apples
  • coffee filter or cloth towel to cover jar opening and rubber band to secure it

Instructions

  • Place apple pieces into jar.
  • Add enough sugar water to nearly fill the jar. (Be sure to leave enough room to add the ACV starter.)
  • Add your apple cider vinegar to the jar.
  • Cover with coffee filter/towel and secure with rubber band. Leave at room temperature for one week.
  • After 1 week, strain out the fruit. Return to glass jar, cover, and allow to ferment for another two weeks. Stir every couple of days. When finished, transfer to a glass bottle of your choice.

Notes

  • Make sure before you start the process that your apples are well-washed. You may use bruised or browned fruit but not moldy fruit.
  • You will want to use organic apples; any pesticides will affect the culture.
  • After a while you will start to notice a strange, rubbery blob forming at the top of your vinegar - it's forming its own mother! That is a good sign. ????
  • You can use your favorite granulated sweetener to make the sugar-water, but it has to be an actual sugar. (No stevia, xylitol, etc.) This can be pure white sugar or a less-processed sugar like sucanat. It's there to feed the yeast and will be consumed by the time it turns to vinegar.
  • You can use raw honey but since the honey has its own mix of microbes, it will change the culture a bit. It might take longer as well. (I have never tried it.)
  • Different varieties of apples make different-tasting cider. I use Gala, but I bet a tart apple like a Granny Smith would be amazing.
  • You can actually do this with many different types of fruit! Try it with organic peaches, pears, cherries, pineapple, grapes, etc.
  • If you end up with a moldy batch, toss it, no exceptions. Try using more ACV as a starter next time.
  • Homemade vinegars vary in strength. You can expect a homemade vinegar like this one to be around 6 percent acetic acid or stronger.
  • You can re-use old glass ACV bottles to keep it in when it's finished. I also love using glass swing-top bottles. Using a non-metal lid is preferred; vinegar corrodes metal.