Apple cider vinegar has a huge number of health benefits that why it is so famous. However it isn’t always available locally.The available products in the market are not of good quality.
Making apple cider vinegar is not difficult.By following the below-mentioned DIY recipe you can easily make apple cider vinegar at home.
It is an all-natural product that is reputed to have a lot of healthy benefits such as boosting your immune system and increasing stamina.
Like apple juice, the best apple cider vinegar are organic, unfiltered and raw (unpasteurized) and are costly. So it is best that you prepare it all by yourself rather than buying it from the market.
In this article, I will teach you how you can prepare organic Apple cider vinegar by yourself. The best part is: you don’t require cooking skills. All you need is sincerity and patience.
Table of Contents
DIY Apple Cider Vinegar Recipe
A. What Container Should Be Used To Prepare Apple Cider Vinegar Recipe
Before we start off, 2 things are to be noted:
1. While making vinegar at home, oxygen supply and temperature should be accurate. Oxygen is spread throughout the mixture by stirring it on a daily basis so that air reaches the fluid through a cheesecloth filter.
The temperature of fermentation should be kept between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit (F). Higher temperature instigates the formation of the vinegar.
2. Do not Use metal container while making vinegar. Acid in the mixture will react with the metal and corrodes it. Glass, wood, enamel, plastic, or stainless steel containers should be used for making or storing vinegar.
B. Ingredients Required To Make Apple Cider Vinegar
- 5 large apples of choice or the leftovers of 10 apples(leftovers- the cores and peels from apples)
- Filter Equipment
- 1 wide mouth gallon glass jar or a large bowl
- Cheesecloth or flour sack cloth
- Large rubber band
C. Procedure
Step 1
Before preparing apple cider vinegar, we first need to prepare Hard Cider.
1. Wash the apples(best if ripe).
2. Cut the apples into pieces no smaller than 1 inch including cores, stems and seeds .
3. Allow the apples to rest at room temperature until they turn brown.
4. Put the brown apples into a large, wide-mouth glass jar or bowl.
5. Pour in room temperature filtered water in the jar to cover the apples leaving a couple of inches at the top.
6. Stir in the raw honey or cane sugar(preferably organic) until fully dissolved.
7. Cover the jar with cheesecloth or a thin white dishtowel or flour sack cloth. Allow it to rest lightly, without securing. This will let more oxygen enter into the mixture.
8. Next, secure the jar with a rubber band and keep it on the counter for about a week and mix it once or twice a day. Bubbles will begin to form as the sugar ferments. You will see and smell this transformation.
9. When the apple pieces and/ scraps no longer float and sink to the bottom of the jar after approximately a week, the hard apple cider is made.
Step 2
1. Once The Hard Apple Cider is done, we shall prepare the Apple Cider Vinegar.
2. Strain out the apple scraps and pour the hard apple cider into a fresh glass jar cover with a fresh piece of cheesecloth and secure with a rubber band.
3. Leave on the counter for an additional 3-4 weeks to allow the alcohol to transform into acetic acid.Leave the jar to stand, covered for 6 months, stirring once a week.
4. Retrieve the jar at the end of the 6-month period of fermentation. There will be a layer of white scum on top of the liquid as alcohol turns to vinegar.
5. Filter the liquid through the cheesecloth slowly into another wide-mouth glass jar. Do this by holding a cheesecloth carefully onto the first jar. Then tip it to let small amounts of fluid through and into the other jar. Does this till all the fluid is filtered and transferred to the other jar.
6. Cover the new jar of liquid with the same cheesecloth.
7. Let stand in a warm, dark place for another 4 to 6 weeks.
8. Transfer your fully-fermented Cider Vinegar into containers of smaller size. Store it in a refrigerator to avoid further fermenting. If the taste is too strong, you can always add water and dilute it.
Adding Flavors To The Vinegar
You can always enhance the taste by adding additional flavors just before bottling. Good examples of additives include green onion, ginger, garlic, or any combination of fresh or dried herbs.
For flavoring, place material in a small cheesecloth bag and suspend it in the vinegar until exact strength is reached. This will take about 4 days, however, for Garlic, only 1 day is enough.
The proportion of ADDITIVES 🙁 For every 2 cups of vinegar): 1/2 cup crushed fresh herbs/ 1 tablespoon of dried herbs/ 2 large cloves of garlic/ 8 small green onions.
Other good flavourings include nasturtium, tarragon, basil, mint, chervil, raspberries and hot chillies.Here proportions play an important role as too much vegetable matter can destroy the acid and destroy the preservative quality of the vinegar.
Here proportions play an important role as too much vegetable matter can destroy the acid and destroy the preservative quality of the vinegar.
Uses For Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
- Can be used in homemade recipes, tonics and even for cleaning.
- For an ACV detoxification bath (1 quarter to a tub full of warm water).
- As a hair rinse or for hair detoxing.
- As the fermenting agent.
- Is an essential ingredient in homemade bone broths.
- You can also mix with fruit juice or water and drink it.
- Is excellent in cooking, salads, or freezer and refrigerator pickled products.
NOTE:
1.Pasteurized apple cider vinegar doesn’t have same benefits as raw apple cider vinegar as valuable vitamins, enzymes and probiotics are destroyed by the heating process.
2.A mixture of apples produces the best tasting and most healthful raw apple cider vinegar.(50%-sweet apples,35%-sharp tasting apples and 15%-bitter tasting apples)
3.Adding sweeteners such as sugar or honey speeds up the process of Hard Cider formation. However, you can also go without sweeteners. In the latter case ,the process will take a minimum of 6 weeks’ time.
4.If your apples tend to float to the surface in the initial few days and you are not using a special fermentation jar with an insert to keep foods below water level. So change the jar immediately.
5.Bubbles kick start the fermentation process.However, only white scrums are desirable. Scrums of any other colour(blue,green,gray, black) are not good. Safe is to discard, learn from your mistakes and restart with a new batch.
So follow the above-mentioned process sincerely, keeping a note of all the DOs and DONTs and your Cider Vinegar will be ready in no time.
