How to Make Apple Cider Vinegar
Make your own Apple Cider Vinegar at home! It is a great way to use or preserve excess apples, or a zero-waste solution to use unwanted apple scraps like skins or cores! Apple cider vinegar is easy to make, and is healthy, delicious, fermented, and packed with probiotics.
Ingredients
- Cores and peels from 6 to 8 apples
- Sugar 1 tbsp per 250ml of water
- Water to cover Filtered or bottled
Instructions
- Wash and chop the apples into chunks, or gather collected apple scraps (which can be saved in the freezer over time) and add them to your jar or other large fermenting vessel until it filled about halfway full.
- Pour lukewarm filtered water over the apples into the container until it is almost full, but measure/note the total amount of water added.
- Stir in sugar in ratios of 1 tablespoon of sugar per 250ml of water added.
- Optional: Add a splash of finished organic apple cider vinegar (e.g. store-bought) to inoculate the culture and encourage fermenting.
- Stir combined ingredients until thoroughly mixed, and cover with breathable material.
- Store in a dark location around 21 to 24 degrees C for two weeks to ferment, and stir everyday to prevent mold from forming on top. If needed, add another layer of material like a dark towel on top of the container to block light.
- After two weeks, strain and reserve the liquid into a similar sized container and cover again. Compost the spent fruit.
- Move the covered container of liquid to a location that is out of the way to continue long term fermentation. Maintain dark. A cooler "room temperature" at this stage is okay, but do not refrigerate yet.
- After one month, sample the vinegar to see if it is finished fermenting and tart to your liking. If needed, allow it to continue to ferment for a total of two to three months.
- Once it is fermented to your desired flavor, transfer the apple cider vinegar into bottles with lids (or swing top bottles). Store at room temperature or in the refrigerator, and enjoy!
- Properly fermented apple cider vinegar should "stay good" for over a year – as long as it does not have visible mold, or a strong and unusual flavor or appearance.
Notes
You can use it as a household cleaner if the flavour doesn't come out how you wanted it.