How To Make Apple Cider Vinegar From Apple Scraps (Video)
Learning how to make real apple cider vinegar from apple scraps is a great way to avoid food waste from your organically grown fresh apples. It’s simple and easy to learn and is a valuable homesteading skill to develop. Having raw apple cider vinegar on hand at all times is helpful for making medicinal things like fire cider, or making your own salad dressings or BBQ sauce. It has countless uses in cooking and once you learn how easy it is to make, you’ll never need to buy store-bought vinegar again. The benefits of apple cider vinegar not only medicinally, but when included raw in the diet have been known for thousands of years. This traditional fermented food was a staple in the old fashioned homestead days.
It’s important to know that homemade apple cider vinegar shouldn’t be used for canning because the acidity can vary. The acidity for canning purposes should be at least 5%, so unless you test the acidity of your homemade vinegar, you shouldn’t use it for canning. But for all other purposes, your own apple cider vinegar will work just fine. It’s so nice to cross things off your grocery list that you won’t ever have to buy again. My favorite way to use raw apple cider vinegar is in making fire cider.
Simple Ingredients
Apple Scraps
The peels and cores from making canned apple slices works great! Keep in mind that it’s best to use organic apples, especially because you’re pulling all of the nutrients out of the apple and concentrating it into vinegar. So it’s important not to have any toxins or spray on your apple peels in order to have good quality apple cider vinegar. Otherwise the kind of apples you use doesn’t really matter. I use apple scraps from our own apple trees, and that way I know for sure they are organically grown.
Sugar
You can use regular white sugar, or natural sugars like this one from Azure Standard.
Water
Non-chlorinated or filtered water is best.
An Overview Of The Process For Making Apple Scrap Vinegar
Place your peels and cores in a gallon jar and cover with a mix of sugar and water. Allow to sit for a couple weeks at room temperature to let the apples fully infuse into the sugar water. Strain off the apples and allow the leftover juice to ferment for several months in a cool dark place until it smells like vinegar. Use in your favorite recipes that call for apple cider vinegar.
For other great food preservation recipes, click here.
Tools You May Need
Fermentation weights OR small jelly jars – to keep apple scraps underneath the water line during fermentation.
Coffee Filters (for loosely covering your jars during fermentation)
Rubber bands or string (for securing coffee filter)
Half gallon or quart jar – for storing the vinegar during it’s second fermentation
How To Make Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar From Apple Scraps
You first need to peel and core a bunch of whole apples. We like to do this with a drill hooked up to an apple peeler/corer/slicer because it makes it the peeling process so much faster and easier. (See video below).
Place apple cores and peels (seeds and all) into gallon glass jars until about ¾ full. You can also use quart or half gallon jars, but I find that the gallon jars are the easiest to work with. I usually make apple cider vinegar with the scraps when we’re canning apples for pie filling etc.
Add cool water, keeping track of how much water you add.
Add 1 Tablespoon of sugar per cup of water and gently stir.
If you have made apple scrap vinegar before, and still have some of the mother (a jelly like substance that forms on the top of the fermenting apple vinegar), to your jar of scraps to jumpstart the fermentation process. Or you can add two to three Tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar form a previous batch as well.. However, This step is optional, especially if this is your first time making vinegar.
Place fermentation weight OR jelly jar on top of the scraps in the jar. Slowly add water to the jelly jar to weigh it down until it pushes the apple pieces underneath the water line in the jar. You don’t want any apple scraps sticking up above the water line, or they can mold.
Cover the top of the jar with a coffee filter, paper towel or cloth and tie securely with a rubber band or string. This will keep any fruit flies or other insects from getting in, while still letting the vinegar breath.
Let it set for two weeks on your counter out of direct sunlight.
Second Fermentation
After two weeks, strain off the juice and place it in half gallon jars or other glass container.
Cover with another coffee filter or cloth and rubber band or string to allow it to continue to breath without getting insects or other contaminants in it.
Put it in a cool dark place like a pantry cupboard for 2-6 months for it’s second fermentation. When you open the cupboard and it smells like vinegar, you’ll know the fermentation process is complete. There’s no specific time limit really, the longer you let it ferment the stronger it will get. You can always taste it to see if you like it.
Once it’s fermented to your liking, place a lid on the jar and put it back on the shelf. It will keep for a long time, but we like it so much that it usually gets used up quickly.
And there you have it! A delicious raw and naturally fermented food made from food scraps you may have otherwise thrown away, that will nourish your family and save you from having to buy store-bought apple cider vinegar.
If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @wagonwheelhomestead21
How To Make Apple Cider Vinegar Using Apple Scraps
Learning how to make real apple cider vinegar from apple scraps is a great way to avoid food waste from your organically grown fresh apples. It’s simple and easy to learn and is a valuable homesteading skill to develop. Having raw apple cider vinegar on hand at all times is helpful for making medicinal things like fire cider, or making your own salad dressings or BBQ sauce. It has countless uses in cooking and once you learn how easy it is to make, you’ll never need to buy store-bought vinegar again. The benefits of apple cider vinegar not only medicinally, but when included raw in the diet have been known for thousands of years. This traditional fermented food was a staple in the old fashioned homestead days.
Ingredients
- Apple peels and cores
- Sugar
- Water
Instructions
You first need to peel and core a bunch of whole apples. We like to do this with a drill hooked up to an apple peeler/corer/slicer because it makes it the peeling process so much faster and easier. (See video below).
Place apple cores and peels (seeds and all) into gallon glass jars until about ¾ full. You can also use quart or half gallon jars, but I find that the gallon jars are the easiest to work with. I usually make apple cider vinegar with the scraps when we're canning apples for pie filling etc.
Add cool water, keeping track of how much water you add.
Add 1 Tablespoon of sugar per cup of water and gently stir.
If you have made apple scrap vinegar before, and still have some of the mother (a jelly like substance that forms on the top of the fermenting apple vinegar), to your jar of scraps to jumpstart the fermentation process. Or you can add two to three Tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar form a previous batch as well.. However, This step is optional, especially if this is your first time making vinegar.
Place fermentation weight OR jelly jar on top of the scraps in the jar. Slowly add water to the jelly jar to weigh it down until it pushes the apple pieces underneath the water line in the jar. You don’t want any apple scraps sticking up above the water line, or they can mold.
Cover the top of the jar with a coffee filter, paper towel or cloth and tie securely with a rubber band or string. This will keep any fruit flies or other insects from getting in, while still letting the vinegar breath.
Let it set for two weeks on your counter out of direct sunlight.
Second Fermentation
After two weeks, strain off the juice and place it in half gallon jars or other glass container.
Cover with another coffee filter or cloth and rubber band or string to allow it to continue to breath without getting insects or other contaminants in it.
Put it in a cool dark place like a pantry cupboard for 2-6 months for it's second fermentation. When you open the cupboard and it smells like vinegar, you’ll know the fermentation process is complete. There’s no specific time limit really, the longer you let it ferment the stronger it will get. You can always taste it to see if you like it.
Once it’s fermented to your liking, place a lid on the jar and put it back on the shelf. It will keep for a long time, but we like it so much that it usually gets used up quickly.
And there you have it! A delicious raw and naturally fermented food made from food scraps you may have otherwise thrown away, that will nourish your family and save you from having to buy store-bought apple cider vinegar.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
32Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 3Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 0mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 0g
Such a great idea. Thank you for this recipe!