Apple Cider Vinegar from Scraps
Author: The Prairie Homestead
Recipe type: DIY
Ingredients
Instructions
Author: The Prairie Homestead
Recipe type: DIY
Ingredients
- Apple peelings or cores
- Sugar (1 tablespoon per one cup of water used)
- Water
- Glass jar (like this) (a quart is a great place to start, but you can definitely make larger quantities, too.)
Instructions
- Fill the glass jar ¾ of the way with the apple peels and cores.
- Stir the sugar into the water until it's mostly dissolved, and pour over the apple scraps until they are completely covered. (Leave a few inches of room at the top of the jar.)
- Cover loosely (I recommend a coffee filter or fabric scrap secured with a rubber band) and set in a warm, dark place for around two weeks.
- You can give it a stir every few days, if you like. If any brownish/greyish scum develops on the top, simply skim it off.
- Once two weeks has passed, strain the scraps from the liquid.
- At this point, my vinegar usually has a pleasantly sweet apple cider smell, but is still missing that unmistakable tang.
- Discard the scraps (or feed them to your chickens!), and set the strained liquid aside for another 2-4 weeks.
- You’ll know your apple cider vinegar is complete once it has that unmistakable vinegary smell and taste. If it's not quite there yet, simply allow it to sit a while longer.
- Once you are happy with the taste of your vinegar, simply cap and store it as long as you like. It won't go bad.
- If a gelatinous blob develops on the top of your vinegar, congratulations! You have created a vinegar "mother". This mother can be use to jump-start future vinegar batches. You can remove it and store it separately, but I usually just allow mine to float around in the vinegar as I store it.
- Use your homemade vinegar just like you would storebought vinegar-- for cooking, cleaning and everything in between!
