Sorry for dropping the ball yesterday folks.
Especially when some of you were waiting for the tutorial on how to make your own ACV (apple cider Vinegar). With starting school this week, it has been a challenge to keep everything balanced, and you know that this occasionally is the one thing that falls off the plate when needed. 🙂 Have to get back in the habit of writing a lot earlier in the week and just posting when I am really busy/ 🙂
I decided this year with the blessing of all sorts of apples, that I am going to try to make my own apple cider vinegar, and so far, it is coming along according to plan,
 bubbling, and turning darker by the day.
This post is going to actually be a half post because I do not have the finished product yet,
and will share that with you in six weeks.
However, it is so incredibly easy that I simply could NOT not post about it for you, because I know some of you have apples waiting at home to be processed, and because I told you to hang onto those cores from making applesauce. You can also use the leftover crabapples from making apple juice, making them do double duty……as I have done at this point and have them “cooking in a jar” on top of my cupboards.
To make apple cider vinegar you need to have very clean, sterilized jars that you are using. As always, I pulled out one of my glass gallon jars, washed it really well, then sterilized it with boiling water from my tea kettle. Since you are going to be fermenting something, just like with sauerkraut, then you need to make sure that all the bad stuff is history to give room for the good bacteria to thrive.
Take your apple cores and place them into the sterilized jar.
Fill jar with distilled water to the top.
Place something (here I used my 2 cup glass measuring cup) to block any air flow and to create a seal with water around the top of the jar. This keeps any yuckies, such as bugs or bad bacteria, from invading your ACV while it is fermenting. Since I have two of those, it works perfect as a weight that is just enough to keep the apples below the surface, and a water seal around the top of the jar.
You can also use a pint jar weighted with water and then cover the top of the jar with cheesecloth, a cotton towel, or whatever. Right now mine has a tea towel tied tightly around the neck of the jar, and I put it in a dark place so that it can continue to ferment for the six weeks.
You do need to check it periodically, pull any scummy looking stuff off, and just let it go. Place it in a warm dark place, and leave it for six weeks. Not too long from now, and you will have beautiful, strong, homemade ACV…….just like our grandmothers used to make throughout the fall and winter for their families. 🙂
Blessings to you and yours,
~Heather
Tomorrow I have a couple amazing apple recipes for you for Simple Saturday Pleasures, so be sure to check back!
How neat. Would never have thought of doing this and such a great way to use the cores. I look forward to seeing the finished product.
Thanks Stephanie! Yep, waste not, want not, right? Sad we have lost track of so many of the things that people used to do all the time.
Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
~Heather
I’ve made ACV for quite a few years now, (along with any/all things that I can ferment!) and my favorite way to top the jars is to use a clean ziplock bag filled with water, and then set on top of my peels/cores!! the bag conforms to the size and shape of any jar and seals it nicely!! No nastiness gets in!!
yep, that is what we do with our sauerkraut, and it works awesome. I found that using a jar was awesome and totally closed it off with no issues or water bags leaking or breaking, so it was nice to see a new option too. 🙂
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
~Heather <3
Is this strong enough to use for waterbath canning?
yes, the strength depends on the type of apple and how long you ferment it. If you want to be safe, then use tart apples or crab apples. 🙂 Makes for a higher acidity in the end product. 🙂
Thanks for asking.
~Heather
HUBBY BOUGHT ME A FERMENTING JAR AT THE ASIAN MARKET AND IT IS SO WORTH THE MONEY…IT HAS A LID THAT YOU PUT OVER THE WELL WITH WATER IN IT AND ACTS AS AN AIRLOCK AS IN BREWING …YOU CAN FERMENT ANYTHING IN IT …
So how do you save the cores, freezer? Or dehydrate?
Samantha, I go straight from processing the apples to making the apple cider vinegar (which turned out awesome by the way). You can certainly also freeze them, just expect a darker product in the end due to the browning before you make the vinegar. 🙂
what about the seeds? do you remove them? I know they contain arsenic so I’m a little weary to try this…..lol
we remove them using a kitchen knife, but I will see if I can find the study that was done on how many apple seeds a person needs to ingest to cause harm. It is an outrageous amount, ande most certainly was far more than anything that is contained in a gallon jar of scraps for apple cider vinegar.
If you are still concerned about it, simply use apple peels instead or make sure you get all the seeds out. 🙂
Blessings,
~Heather <3
Was wondering if perhaps a person could use just red ripe crabapples for this ACV recipe ? Thank you bunches for the great apple recipes !
Do you filter the fermented product to get the apple cores out, I was thinking cheesecloth? And how long is the vinegar good for? I just picked a bunch of apples to do some canning, excited to try this! 🙂
yes once I have timed it about six weeks. or longer, then I filter everything out and jar it up. Vinegar is good for about a year, and then natural vinegar such as this begins to turn to hard vinegar or cider. 😀
So, I have some crushed apples coming to me tomorrow from the cider press. We were going to compost the stuff, would they work for acv as they are already presses pretty dry?
possibly? I have never used this before. Never hurts to try something once, that is for sure!
~Heather <3
Should you break up all the cores and scraps for more surface area? Or do you leave them fairly large?
Ill be freaking the cores since I eat Apple’s one at a time, but the darker brown won’t bother me. Looking forward to the product!
Thanks!
Nicole
I do not break them up at all because I want minimum exposure to the seeds. 😀
Thanks for the tutoriol. My mom canned EVERY THING WHEN I was little! Too bad she’s gone now & most of her recipes went to the gave now
Too bad I was too young and stupid & asked for a recipe! That from her own & it was gonna be a g to bad I got very few. Anyway she showed me to a place and I was impressed with her these sound delight
Dear Pamela…
First of all, all of us make mistakes. Some are harder to overcome than others, and some hang over our heads for years like a dark cloud just waiting to ruin the day. It sounds to me like this one haunts you.
My dear friend, let it go. Learn the skills, start gathering your own recipes, and honor your mother by thinking about her and dedicating the process and what you choose to do with your life, to her.
Start a recipe book for your kids. If you dont have kids, start a recipe book and watch for someone to come into your life that you can someday pass it on to.
Life is all about the choices we make, the lessons we learn, and what we do with those lessons.
Hugs.
Blessings to you and yours,
~Heather <3
Heather, I love the very good and gentle advice you gave to Pamela on September of 2015…our little grandson belts out the song “Let It Go” frequently and it serves as a reminder to all of us to hold the good and let go of the bad.
I read somewhere to just place a paper towel over the top of the jar that is fermenting, is this okay to do? And do you have a picture of the ziplock baggie method of sealing the top. I think I have the idea, but want to be sure as to not use my home made acv in drinks and then end up sic,
Welcome to The Welcoming House, Amanda.
You CAN place a paper towel over the top of the jar, but I want you to know that fruit flies totally and completely love this stuff. They love the fermented smell, and it drives them crazy. Same with any other fermented product. SO, while using a paper towel can work, those little buggers can, and will, be determined to get into your jar and ruin the whole thing. Paper towels are much easier to penetrate than a cloth due to the weave. 😀
I do not currently have a picture of the ziplock baggie method, as this post was made a few years ago. However, I will be sure to try and take a picture for you as I am starting another batch this coming week when my apples come in from a friend.
It is similar to my method used on my sauerkraut making post also found on here. 😀
Blessings to you and good luck.
~Heather <3
Is there any reason you can’t just use the lid that the jar comes with?
Anything that is fermenting needs to be able to release the gas that is created during the process. 😀 Also have that air space would allow particles of whatever to float in the air inside and then settle on the top of the liquid, possibly causing mold, which would need to be thrown out then.
Also, the crabapples tend to float so having something weighing them down was part of what we discovered in the process. If they are allowed to float to the top and rise above the liquid level, they will rot.
Good question and thanks for asking.
Blessings to you and yours,
~Heather