Remember that vinegar I was attempting to make with the apples I foraged a few weeks back? This is my second attempt at making apple cider vinegar. I failed miserably last time. It smelled like stinky shoes after a rain storm...but 100% worse. It never formed a mother either.
Here's the mother!
I'll be honest, I don't understand enough about it to know exactly how a mother forms or what it is exactly...but I do know that you can't have vinegar without the mother. And now I have one. :o) I was going to store it in an old vinegar bottle but I want to be able to access the mother if I want to make another kind of vinegar so I need to find a wider mouth jar now.
Here's the recipe.
Gather apple cores, trimmings and peels (bruised or overripe fruit ok, except throw out any pieces with mold on it)
You'll need:
To make sugar water:
1/4 cup Rapadura sugar (or honey)
1 quart filtered warm water
Preparation:
Prepare the sugar water for the amount of fruit scraps that you have with the ratio of 1 quart water to 1/4 sugar. Make sure all sugar is completely dissolved. Fill jars with coarsely chopped up fruit scraps about half full, then pour in the sugar water solution. For pineapple vinegar, add the additional spices and stir in. Cover with a towel or cheesecloth and let ferment at room temperature. Stir once/day if you can.
You will notice the liquid darken after about a week. At that point, strain out the fruit scraps and discard or compost them. Ferment the vinegar for 2 to 3 weeks longer, stirring it periodically.
Simple enough right?
5 comments:
congrats on your success!
Glad it worked. Your brave for trying it again. I've never heard of a mother and it looks pretty creepy.
That is so weird and neat at the same time!! I'm copying your instructions. I love vinegar. I think your work will do us good if things get really tough here. I bet I would crave vinegar if I didn't have it. (not to mention not being able to make pickels!) During depression, my grandma made dandelion salad with vinegar. I think she only used the green parts...although I think you can eat both. love,andrea
Thanks for the congrats Heather and Valerie. :o) I just love it when I can finally get something to work.
Andrea, I have read that your vinegar needs to be 5% acidity to do any canning with it. So if you planned on using it for making pickles, you would need to get a ph testing kit. I just plan on using it for regular eating and cooking. And about the dandelion...they whole thing is edible. I've made dandelion fritters out of the flowers before and have eaten the greens. I haven't used the roots but I have heard it's a great coffee substitute and used in many primitive cultures as a medicine...it's also a diuretic so you shouldn't drink too much of it, I would guess.
Thanks Tiff:o)! that is very informative. Didn't think about the science behind canning concerning that. I probably have an old pool tester for ph (and chlorine) in my garage, but if things get bad....we'd be thinking of what to eat here and now. Good to know about the coffee substitute too...if I didn't have coffee available...I'd certainly be looking around for a substitute. love,andrea
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