Making Your Own Apple Cider Vinegar at Home

It’s apple season! I love the Fall, because of all of the fresh picked pears, peaches and apples. It’s the season for cooking all of my favorite dishes that have been waiting for me all year long. I also use this season to can all of my favorites.

With apples I make my Harvest Apple Jam, Apple Coffee Cake, homemade applesauce, cinnamon apples, apple chips, cinnamon apple fruit leather, apple pie filling, and especially my apple cider vinegar. There are so many wonderful uses for fresh organic apples. And they are even better when we can pick them ourselves.

I don’t typically peel my apples for any of my delicious apple concoctions, but I do have a bunch of apple cores. As I don’t like to waste anything in this household, I save all of my apple cores in a bag in the freezer until I have enough to make my apple cider vinegar. However, I make many, many batches of apple cider vinegar through the Fall season so that we have enough to last us all year long. So in the end, I’m usually just using apples that need to be used before they go bad.

Everything has a use in our house. I’m so glad that we can put these apples to use making something that we use in so many different ways. Every dollar counts, and by making our own apple cider vinegar, we don’t have to purchase any at all, if not much from the store every year. And we simply used something that would have been thrown away anyway.

Let’s see how easy these were to make!

I started by gathering my materials and chopping my apples. I used whole apples because they needed to be used and I didn’t have any apple scraps.

I filled my jars with apples and added 1 tablespoon of honey to each quart.

For my starter, I used my raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar from Sprouts.

I added 1/8 cup of apple cider vinegar and then filled each with as much water as would fit in each jar.

Then I covered them with coffee filters and secured those with rubber bands.

After 24 hours, they were already fermenting. See the great bubbles! By November these jars will be ready to filter and use.

Now it’s your turn to try it!

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Ingredients:

• Apple scraps or apples that need to be used
• 1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons raw honey
• Filtered water

Instructions:

1. Add any chopped apples or apple scraps to your quart jars. I had some apples that I needed to use, so I just chopped them up for this vinegar recipe.
2. Add in your honey and your apple cider vinegar to get it started.
3. Finally pour in your water. I specify filtered water so that you aren’t adding in all sorts of chemicals and unknowns into your vinegar.
4. Stir up and press the apples under the surface of the water with the back of your tablespoon.
5. Put one coffee filter over each jar and secure each with a rubber band.
6. Set them somewhere out in the open but out of direct sunlight to ferment. The process will take about a month and a half before you can use them.
7. By the end of the first day, your apple cider vinegar will be bubbling and fermentation will have already begun.
8. The first few days will have the most visible activity if you are watching it, and then it will die down.
9. Make sure to stir your vinegar every day to every other day and keep pushing those apples back under the surface of the liquid. You don’t want mold to form on the apples and ruin your vinegar. And keep those jars covered so gnats don’t get to them.
10. After a month, you’ll notice a film, called the mother, developing on the surface. This is a good sign. At this point, stop stirring them.
11. Over the next couple of weeks the mother will get much thicker.
12. At about 6 weeks, it’s ready to strain and use. I suggest scooping out the mother first and either starting a new batch with the mother or adding it back into your vinegar after you strain the apple pieces out.
13. Strain out your apple pieces and pour the liquid back into the jars with their mother. Seal with a lid and ring and store in a dark location. This vinegar should last you indefinitely.
14. I like to start a new batch every few days during apple season to give us plenty to use all year long.

Surprising Uses for Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar can be used in all sorts of recipes, including salad dressings, soups, sauces, hot drinks and more. But even better, it can also be used for cleaning, washing hair, preserving food and improving skin function as well. We use it for just about everything in our household as it has so many great healthy benefits.

Apple cider vinegar is the most popular type of vinegar in the natural health community. It is claimed to lead to all sorts of benefits, many of which are supported by science. This includes weight loss, reduced cholesterol, lower blood sugar levels and improved symptoms of diabetes.

How I Use My Apple Cider Vinegar

I use it for washing my fruits and veggies. Not only can it remove any possible pesticide residues from my produce, but it has been shown to remove dangerous bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella. Mix 1 cup of water with half a cup of apple cider vinegar, and you’ll have a natural all-purpose cleaner that you can use all over your house.

I use it in the shower as a natural conditioner by mixing 1 part apple cider vinegar with 1 part water and pouring the mixture over my hair. Just leave it in for a few minutes before rinsing it out. Your hair will be soft and shiny as the vinegar removes any buildup in your hair. It can also be used as a deodorant, to kill and prevent fleas on your pets, to whiten your teeth, to treat acne, as a weed killer, in the bathtub to tone your skin and to trap fruit flies in your kitchen.

Apple cider vinegar is also a popular home remedy for sore throats as the antibacterial properties kill off any bad bacteria making you sick. This stuff is amazing!

If you find that you are struggling to keep your apples under water, you can always use a fermentation weight like this one. This will come in handy when making sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles and other fermented veggies for your family. Enjoy!!

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