Make your own Apple Cider Vinegar

While I am known to purchase ACV from everywhere I go, I also make my own at home because we got apples! The best way to use up all your apple scraps. It’s so easy.

YOU WILL NEED:

Apple peels / cores aka whatever you consider a “scrap”

Sugar (1 tbsp per one cup of water used)

Water

Glass Jar

Fill jar ¾ of the way full with 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 (coffee filter or fabric scrap secured with a rubber band) and set in a warm, dark place for 2 weeks. To check on your vinegar, you are welcome to stir it every few days if you wish. Make sure to strain off any brownish/grey scum that might develop! But no worries, your vinegar didn’t go bad! Once two weeks have passed, strain out the apple scraps. Compost the scraps. At this point you might notice that the vinegar has a very sweet, apple smell, but it might be missing the tang that you love from ACV. If it’s not quite there, let your vinegar sit longer and keep checking on it until you are happy with the taste. Once you are happy with the vinegar, cap it with a regular cap for your jar and store it as long as you’d like! Your vinegar won’t go bad! If you get a gelatinous blob on the top of your vinegar, that’s great! That means you created a vinegar “mother” and you can use it to jump-start other batches. I usually let my mothers just hang out in the jar with the vinegar, but you are welcome to remove it and store it separately.