Self-cooking at home is the surest way to get 100% naturalness. It is this quality that makes real homemade vinegar not just a piquant spice, but also a useful product in many ways.

Why make seasoning at home when this product is presented in a wide range on store shelves? Yes, all because of the same naturalness!

Most manufacturers use apple peels, cores and even spoiled trimmings to prepare spices - everything that usually goes to waste.

Often apples in an industrial product are just a name. In fact, it is ordinary table vinegar with apple flavoring. Manufacturers can also add all kinds of preservatives to the composition - to extend shelf life, and dyes - to make the appearance more presentable.

Of course, a spice you make yourself will have a shorter shelf life, and its appearance may not be very presentable. But, having prepared vinegar at home, the housewife will be firmly convinced of its safety for health.

Another advantage of a homemade composition is lower acidity (4-5%) than its industrial counterpart (at least 6%). Thanks to this, the former can be used not only as a seasoning and marinade, but also for the preparation of cosmetics, and even for the treatment of certain ailments.

The conclusion from the above suggests itself: the best way to get quality food is to make it at home yourself. Preparation does not require much time and expense - the seasoning recipe is quite simple and affordable.

Apple vinegar at home: general principles of preparation

The first and main ingredient of homemade spices is apple pulp or juice. Overripe fruits and those collected not from a tree, but from the ground, are perfect. But they should all be good, without signs of rot.

To make it, it is best to take sweet apples. Although in the absence of sweet fruits, sweet and sour and sour ones are suitable.

Sugar is the second required ingredient (although there are cooking options without using it).

Also, the composition of the wort for homemade seasoning may include honey, yeast, rye bread and crackers made from it.

One of the advantages of a natural product is that recipes made at home eliminate the pasteurization process. This allows you to preserve all the benefits of the raw materials in the seasoning.

When the product ripens, its surface becomes covered with a film called vinegar matte. Its appearance indicates that everything was done correctly. It is recommended to remove the film only after death, when it sinks to the bottom of the container.

A live vinegar queen can be placed in another portion of the product. It will enhance the aroma and improve the taste of the seasoning.

Important! After ten days of fermentation, adding sugar, straining and pouring the composition, it must be kept for 60 days. During this time, the container cannot be shaken or even moved.

How to make apple cider vinegar at home

Vinegar, made from sugar or honey with apple juice or softened fruit, has been popular since ancient times. Today it has a wide variety of uses.

In the culinary world, there are a large number of recipes and tips on how to cook at home from a minimum number of ingredients.

Homemade apple cider vinegar with sugar (quick)

The most popular recipe without using yeast is from fruit puree.

For it you will need:

• ripe fruits – 3 kg;
• granulated sugar – 150 g (if the fruits are sour, then up to 300 g);
• water.

To begin with, thoroughly washed apples are finely chopped, mashed using a masher, placed in an enamel container, covered with granulated sugar, and filled with boiled water cooled to 70°C.

The mixture prepared in this way is kept warm, away from sunlight. The contents of the pan are thoroughly mixed twice a day.

After 2 weeks, the composition is filtered and poured into glass jars. For straining, use a triple layer of clean gauze.

NOTE! For proper fermentation, the wort should not be added to the edge of the container by 5-7 cm!

Jars of vinegar semi-finished product are kept in a dark, warm place for no longer than two weeks, after which their contents are poured into previously prepared glass bottles.

Thus, you can get it at home, a simple recipe for preparing it that does not require a lot of time and large financial costs.

The entire process of creating such a spice will take about 1 month.

Homemade apple cider vinegar according to Jarvis's recipe

At the beginning of the 19th century, the American doctor D. S. Jarvis proposed his own recipe for preparation enriched with potassium. Subsequently, this recipe became quite widespread under the name of its creator.

Preparing such a product takes longer, but its quality is much higher.

This vinegar seasoning is based on ripe and overripe apples, cleared of the slightest traces of rot and wormholes. They are passed through a meat grinder (you can use a grater or blender) to obtain a homogeneous mass. In this case, the apples must be unpeeled - with peel, partitions, and grains.

The resulting apple mass is placed in a large (enamel or glass) bowl and filled with warm boiled (but not hot!) water. The volume of liquid should be equal to the volume of the fruit mass.

Yeast (10 g), black bread crackers (20 g) and honey are also added to the composition (it is this that gives the finished seasoning additional potassium). It is added at the rate of 100 g/l of the resulting composition.

After this, the container (it is not necessary to close it tightly) is sent to where it is dark and warm for 10 days. Periodically (recommended 3 times a day) everything is mixed.

After the expiration date, the liquid is drained, filtered and enriched with an additional portion of honey at the rate of 50-100 g per 1 liter. The dishes are covered with a multi-layer gauze napkin and put back in a warm place.

The further process of “ripening” the spice according to Jarvis can take up to 40-50 days. Its readiness will be indicated by a change in the appearance of the liquid - the turbidity will disappear.

Homemade apple juice vinegar

An interesting and simple way is from juice. The basis is the amount of fruit - 2 kg (you can take more or less).

The fruits, cut into large pieces, are allowed to sit in the air until they oxidize. Then the juice is squeezed out of them and poured into a glass bottle. A medical glove is placed on top of the neck of the bottle. To begin the fermentation process, all this is removed to a place inaccessible to sunlight, but at the same time warm (optimum temperature + 30°C).

It is impossible to predict in advance how long it will take to make vinegar according to this recipe. Depending on various conditions and factors, the process takes from 1 week to 1.5 months.

The main indicator of the completion of the process is the glove. You should wait until it is maximally inflated. After this, the gloves are removed, and the contents of the bottle are poured into a wider container, which is covered with a cloth or gauze napkin.

In this position, the vinegar is left until the boiling is complete, after which it is filtered, bottled, and stored.

Simple homemade apple vinegar with honey

The preparation of which is similar to Jarvis's recipe. However, there is no bread here.

• apples (1 kg);
• chilled boiled water (1 l);
• honey (200 g);
• sugar (100 g);
• dry yeast (20 g).

A puree is prepared from the fruits, to which the remaining ingredients are added. The entire composition is mixed and stored in a warm place (gauze can be used instead of a lid). For 10 days, the wort is stirred 2 times a day.

For further ripening, the recipe involves straining the wort and additionally squeezing the fruit mass. Both resulting liquids are mixed and left to continue fermentation for another 1.5-2 months.

The spice is ready when it becomes transparent.

Homemade apple cider vinegar from pulp

Another homemade recipe. It uses the pulp left over after preparing the juice.

The raw materials are filled with sugar syrup, cooled to 40°C. Rye crackers and yeast are also placed there (their addition is not necessary).

All this is placed in a glass jar, after which the neck of the container is tied with gauze folded in 4 layers.

The solution is mixed every other day. The total fermentation period is 10 days, after which the liquid is filtered and returned to the jar.

Before putting the seasoning away to ripen in a dark place, add a little honey to it. After this, the jar is not rearranged or shaken for 50 days.

Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar: Tricks and Helpful Tips

To make homemade apple vinegar as healthy and aromatic as possible, in addition to the recipe, you must follow several rules and recommendations:

1. It is advisable to use natural garden fruits for cooking, not store-bought ones. If you have to choose fruits at the market, you should give preference to fruits with small wormholes. The presence of the latter indicates the absence of harmful chemical additives in apples.
2. You should choose glass or enamel vessels for fermentation. Stainless steel containers will not work.
3. Stir the wort only with a wooden or glass spatula (stick).
4. To obtain the most useful product, you must strictly follow the preparation technology and maintain fermentation times. The latter should be monitored especially carefully.
5. For the proper fermentation process, the wort requires access to oxygen.

The finished product can be used both in cooking and to eliminate cold symptoms, treat bruises, massage procedures, lose weight, etc.

Important! If you have gastritis with high acidity, ulcers, hepatitis and some other diseases, you should not even take home-made vinegar internally!

Packaging and storage

So, now you have learned how to make your own apple cider vinegar. Now it needs to be carefully poured into clean glass bottles. In this case, you must try not to stir up the sediment and not to cloud the liquid.

The latter result can be achieved with the most careful transfusion in the usual way, or using a rubber tube.

NOTE! At this stage, various herbs can be added to the liquid to give it additional healing properties and aroma. After 3-4 weeks, this ingredient can be removed from the bottle - by that time the herb will have already transferred all its properties to the seasoning.

It is better to store homemade preparations in small glass jars (you should not pour them “under the neck”), closed with nylon lids or tight stoppers.

Storage temperature – 6-8°C.

Shelf life – 3 years.

Where to buy natural vinegar

If you can’t prepare it at home, you can look for it from those who make their own. You need to focus on the reviews of people who have already used the services of this manufacturer.

And when purchasing seasoning in a store, you should pay attention to its consistency and color - the natural product is dark and slightly cloudy. There should be some slight sediment in the bottle.

To summarize, it can be noted that it is quite simple to do at home. At the same time, a homemade one will definitely have a lot of advantages over its store-bought counterpart, and it can be safely used for a variety of purposes.

The seasoning is easy to prepare. There is no need to carry out complex manipulations; the raw materials used are inexpensive and accessible. However, finishing the job requires patience and step-by-step implementation of the recipe. On average, vinegar matures for two months.

Composition, benefits, contraindications

Dr. Jarvis, an American naturopath who devoted his life to the study of traditional methods of treatment, wrote a single work on the benefits of natural vinegar. He recommended drinking a glass of water with one tablespoon of vinegar every day to maintain alertness and health. Thanks to the popularizing doctor, apple cider vinegar began to be valued not only for its taste, but also for its medicinal qualities.

Natural homemade apple cider vinegar contains acetic, citric, oxalic, lactic acids, enzymes, vitamins, and chemical elements. During the fermentation process, amino acids are synthesized in vinegar. Active substances help digestion and blood circulation, strengthen muscles and vascular walls. The table describes the beneficial effects on human health.

Table - Chemical composition and beneficial properties of natural apple cider vinegar

Compound	Effect on the body
Potassium	- Relieves cramps, swelling; - helps the work of muscles, bones, tendons; - maintains water-salt and acid-base balances
Calcium	- Part of bone and muscle tissue; - affects blood clotting; - participates in protein synthesis
Magnesium	- Improves memory; - stimulates brain activity; - improves mood, relieves anxiety
Sodium	- Participates in water-salt balance; - maintains normal blood circulation; - stimulates the production of gastric juice
Phosphorus	- Forms the human body; - promotes growth; - is a source of vital energy
Copper	- Converts iron into hemoglobin; - synthesizes endorphins; - promotes collagen formation
Iron	- Promotes the absorption of B vitamins; - carries oxygen;
Zinc	- Heals wounds; - promotes brain activity; - forms bones
Manganese	- Regulates blood glucose levels; - promotes the restoration and development of cartilage and bone tissue; - participates in lipid metabolism, controlling fat deposits
Selenium	- Part of enzymes and hormones; - promotes sperm production; - strengthens the immune system
Vitamin A	- Regulates protein synthesis; - slows down the aging process, stimulates cell growth and division; - forms teeth and bones
Vitamin B1	- Tones the intestinal muscles; - reduces the negative effects of tobacco and alcohol; - stimulates brain activity, improves memory and mood
Vitamin B2	- Regulates the functioning of the thyroid gland; - protects the retina from ultraviolet radiation; - participates in metabolism
Vitamin B6	- Helps absorb proteins and fats; - relieves cramps, muscle numbness; - is a diuretic
Vitamin C	- Helps fight viruses; - strengthens nails, hair, teeth; - makes the walls of blood vessels elastic
Vitamin E	- Regenerates tissue; - makes the skin elastic; - participates in the synthesis of hormones

Vinegar is an acid that can harm the body. First of all, people with high stomach acidity should use the product carefully. Gastritis, heartburn, ulcers, nephrosis are contraindications. Acid has a detrimental effect on tooth enamel. It is not recommended to give dishes with vinegar to children under 14 years of age.

5 Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar Recipes

To prepare apple cider vinegar at home, you need to prepare large glass and enamel containers, ripe apples, boiled water and granulated sugar. This is enough to obtain a clear and aromatic vinegar solution after two months. Before becoming part of a dish, the product must go through the following stages of formation:

• alcoholic fermentation- sucrose is converted into ethyl alcohol;
• vinegar fermentation- alcohol turns into acid;
• filtration - sediment is retained, only clear liquid is drained.

With sugar

Description . Apple cider vinegar made from chopped apples is easy to make at home. You can do without yeast; the apples will ferment naturally. The process is long, but does not require active intervention; the bite practically does itself. Both sour and sweet varieties of apples are suitable. An excellent option is “Antonovka” - a moderately sour but pleasant-tasting apple. Based on the sweetness of the fruit, the amount of granulated sugar per 1 kg of fruit is calculated: 50 g for sweet apples and 100 g for sour apples. Water is taken in sufficient volume to cover the fruit 3-4 cm higher.

What you will need:

• apples - 2 kg;
• sugar - 100 g;
• hot water (70 °C).

How to do

1. Quarter the washed apples and cut out the seeds.
2. Grate along with the skin.
3. Place the puree in an enamel container.
4. Pour in water, add granulated sugar.
5. Cover the neck of the pan with several layers of gauze or any other fabric that allows air to pass through and traps insects and debris.
6. Leave for two weeks in a warm, dark room or wrap in black plastic.
7. Stir the mixture twice every day with a wooden spoon.
8. Strain the liquid after 14 days and pour into glass jars, leaving 5-7 cm to the neck.
9. Tighten with gauze and wait another two weeks.
10. Strain and bottle into clean, dry bottles.

Determining the readiness of vinegar is easy. The liquid stops “playing” and becomes light and transparent.

From juice

Description . An economical way to make vinegar is from home-squeezed apple juice. The recipe includes only fresh apples and is prepared without water or granulated sugar. For successful fermentation, you need to take sweet and ripe varieties. You will also need a blender or juicer, glass bottles, an enamel saucepan and gauze.

What you will need:

• apples - 2 kg.

How to do

1. Cut the washed apples into pieces.
2. Leave in air until brown.
3. Pass the slices through a juicer or grind into porridge with a blender.
4. Pour the juice into a glass jar, not reaching the edge of the neck 5-7 cm.
5. Place a medical glove over the neck.
6. Place in a warm (20°C) dark place.
7. Wait for the glove to inflate (this happens after about a week).
8. Remove the glove and pour the liquid, along with the film formed on the surface, into an enamel pan, leaving a space of 10 cm to the edge.
9. Cover the edges of the pan with gauze and leave in a warm, dark place for one and a half to two months.
10. As soon as sediment appears and the liquid becomes clearer, filter the resulting vinegar and pour into bottles.

To reduce fermentation time, you can use wine starter, yeast, granulated sugar or ready-made vinegar. Any of these products is added directly to the juice.

On the vinegar uterus

Description . The process is much simpler if you use a recipe for making apple cider vinegar with a ready-made vinegar mother. This is the same film of yeast that forms on the surface during natural fermentation of juice. The matka can be used for a second batch of vinegar, which will be ready in three to four weeks. The film can be quite wide and dense, reminiscent of kombucha or jellyfish. The reused uterus, which has become denser, can be preserved in a small amount of vinegar until next time. Handle the queen carefully; she may die if the jar is moved suddenly. If during the cooking process the queen sank and fermentation did not occur (a new film did not form on the surface), then the apples were treated with chemicals. Therefore, it is better to use fruits grown on your own plot.

What you will need:

• apples - 1 kg;
• vinegar mother;
• granulated sugar - 100 g;
• water.

How to do

1. Cut the washed apples into slices and, without cutting out the seeds, pass through a juicer.
2. Fill the remaining spin with water, stir and squeeze through a cloth.
3. Add the resulting liquid to the previously squeezed juice.
4. Add granulated sugar and dissolve completely.
5. Fill the glass jar about three-quarters full.
6. Carefully place the uterus inside.
7. Fold the gauze in three layers and tighten the neck of the jar.
8. Place in a dark, warm place for three weeks.
9. Remove the uterus, strain off the vinegar, and discard the resulting sediment.

The juice can be squeezed out using a meat grinder. Roll the slices and squeeze the resulting mass through cheesecloth. It is more effective to hang the “bag” of applesauce over the container and leave it overnight.

From cake

Description . A simple way to make apple cider vinegar at home from the pulp remaining after preparing apple juice. The result is waste-free production.

What you will need:

• fresh cake - 1 kg;
• granulated sugar - 100 g;
• water (70 °C) - 1.5 l.

How to do

1. Place the apple juice in a glass container.
2. Cover with granulated sugar.
3. Pour in water to cover the contents by 3-4 cm, not reaching the edge of the container by 5-7 cm.
4. Tighten the neck with gauze.
5. Place in a dark, warm place for two to three months.
6. Drain and strain the resulting vinegar.
7. Bottle.

From Dr. Jarvis

Description . Dr. Jarvis, in his book, offered his own recipe for apple cider vinegar at home. According to Jarvis, yeast and rye bread are used for fermentation. The components are designed for a liter of liquid, so to prepare a double portion, the proportions are doubled.

What you will need:

• apples - 800 g;
• water - 1 l;
• honey - 100 g;
• bread yeast - 10 g;
• dry black bread - 20 g.

How to do

1. Wash the apples, cut into slices and pass through a meat grinder.
2. Place the puree in a glass container and pour in water, leaving 10 cm to the edge.
3. Add yeast, bread crumbs, and honey.
4. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm (20-30°C) dark place for ten days.
5. Stir the mixture three times a day with a wooden spoon.
6. Strain the liquid and pour into an enamel container.
7. Cover again with gauze and place in a warm, dark place for 40-50 days.
8. Filter the cleared liquid and pour into bottles.

Vinegar is stored at room temperature under sealed, boiled stoppers. If long-term storage is planned, the cork can be sealed with wax.

Product Application

Judging by the reviews, some consumers consider vinegar to be practically a panacea for all diseases and a universal cosmetic product. Natural apple cider vinegar is drunk to strengthen blood vessels, rubbed into temples to relieve headaches, and added to face masks and shampoos. Vinegar can be used in three directions.

1. Cooking. First of all, apple cider vinegar is made at home to obtain a natural seasoning. Meat, fish, and vegetables are marinated in aromatic, alcohol-free apple cider vinegar. The vinegar solution gives a pleasant sour taste to fresh vegetable salad. Unlike industrial table vinegar, apple seasoning has a pleasant, subtle aroma.
2. Cosmetology. Helps brighten and soften the skin. To get rid of acne, it is recommended to wipe the skin with a solution: two teaspoons in half a glass of water. A warm bath with a glass of vinegar will help restore strength and renew the epidermis. It is not recommended to lie in the bath for more than 20 minutes. Vinegar conditioner will make your hair soft and shiny and strengthen the roots. Dissolve a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in 1 liter of cool water and rinse your hair after each wash.
3. Medicine . To improve your general condition, adherents of traditional medicine recommend drinking a glass of honey-vinegar cocktail every day. A teaspoon of ingredients is diluted in warm water. Rub the apple solution on your legs for varicose veins. To relieve a sore throat, gargle with water and vinegar in a 1:1 ratio. Vinegar helps to quickly cool the body, so it is recommended to rub the patient at elevated temperatures.

It is not recommended to drink vinegar on an empty stomach, even in diluted form. Before using the product for medical purposes, you should consult your doctor, especially if you have chronic diseases. When using, you need to follow the dosage, dilute it correctly and not overuse it.

Knowing how to make apple cider vinegar at home, you can completely abandon the store-bought vinegar solution. A natural product made from juicy ripe apples will complement the dish and preserve health and beauty.

Reviews: “Promotes the breakdown of fats and carbohydrates”

I haven’t done anything with the vinegar mother yet, and it’s not really clear to me what can be done with it or made from it, nothing is really written anywhere. I found it
“….a very valuable and useful formation called the “vinegar queen.” It is considered a miracle cure, a spoon of which can alleviate the patient’s condition even in cases where vinegar itself does not help. This remedy is used for increased susceptibility to infections, joint pain and painful skin rashes.

At the same time, they write everywhere that it is very tender, you can’t even move dishes with it from place to place, it dies immediately (and this is true), how then can you pinch off pieces from it. A friend came to see me and I poured her some vinegar from a jar (I didn’t want to go into the basement for pre-packaged vinegar). The vinegar queen immediately began to sink to the bottom, and after a day it became clear that she had died. But a week later, when I wanted to strain the vinegar and throw away the dead queen, I saw that a film had formed in the jar again, i.e. new vinegar queen. So about 4 of them settled to the bottom of the jar, and it looks like a multi-layered kombucha, and all because of my sluggishness (I don’t have time to throw away the dead one before a new one is born).

Sanovna, http://www.forumdacha.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3411

Apple cider vinegar contains valuable minerals (for example, a lot of potassium, necessary for the functioning of the nervous system) and organic acids: acetic, malic, citric, oxalic and others. Hence the effect: apple cider vinegar reduces appetite (including the desire for sweets), stimulates metabolism and promotes the breakdown of fats and carbohydrates. Of course, all this is individual: some people use vinegar to lose weight before their eyes, others improve their skin condition, and for others, there is no effect at all.

It is better to use homemade apple cider vinegar. To do this, take apples (overripe ones are possible), wash them thoroughly and chop them finely, then put them in an enamel pan and fill them with hot (60-70 degrees) water. The water should be 3-4 cm above the level of the apples. Add sugar (at the rate of 50g sugar per 1kg of sweet apples and 100g per 1kg of sour apples) and place the pan for 2 weeks in a warm place, but not in the sun. Be sure to stir 2-3 times a day to prevent a crust from forming. After 2 weeks, strain the liquid through cheesecloth folded in 2-3 layers and pour into glass jars (it is better not to add 5-7 cm to the jars) for fermentation for another 2 weeks.

Bat, http://www.forum.kalor.ru/recept-yablochnogo-uksusa-t584.html

I would like to offer, if anyone is interested, a recipe for apple cider vinegar, which I have been using for a very long time. This was just the first time I made vinegar from apples. For each liter of fresh apple juice, add 70-80 grams of sugar and stir. Pour the juice into 0.5 liter bottles 3/4 full. Add 10 crushed raspberries or 15 white currants (whole) to each bottle. I don’t wash the berries to preserve the wild yeast. I plug the bottles with cotton wool. The juice ferments for 2 weeks. 25-28 heat. Then I filter and again into 0.5 liter bottles. I add 1 tbsp to each bottle. l. apple cider vinegar, but you can add wine (as indicated in the recipe). I leave it in a warm place for 2 months, capping the bottles. The vinegar is strong and can last for years. To get rid of a herd of midges, I drop fairy (or any dishwashing liquid) into a container of water and pour in a spoonful of apple cider vinegar (grape vinegar is fine, the main thing is a light smell). You can also leave a little wine in a wine bottle, they will also sink well. One year I tried using honey instead of sugar, but it didn’t work.

Arci, http://www.povarenok.ru/recipes/show/110479/

It would seem like such a small thing - a teaspoon for salad and a couple of tablespoons for marinating - and that’s it, the dish is radically transformed! Besides the obvious reasons, there are many more possibilities for adding vinegar. A few drops of vinegar will help bring out a new familiar taste, be it the taste of a stew, a roast, or a side dish of beans. It is the acidity of the vinegar that will enhance the spicy accents of the spices. And only it, vinegar, will give the dish completeness and gastronomic chic.

But there are, as they say, vinegars and vinegars. There is table vinegar - an aqueous solution of essence, produced using a certain technology. And there are fruit and berry vinegars obtained as a result of natural fermentation, the most famous of which are wine, balsamic, and apple. Such vinegars can be prepared from almost any fruit. Moreover, you can cook it yourself, at home. And if you take into account the price of high-quality fruit and berry vinegar, then the matter also becomes economically feasible.

About homemade vinegar in a nutshell

Making homemade vinegar takes time. However, “passive” time. It takes several months to ripen, which is spent mainly on waiting. In general, everything is very simple. The main condition for preparing good vinegar is choosing the starting raw materials. The rule is: the riper the berries, the better.

To prepare vinegar, the berries are not washed to preserve the “wild” yeast. The berries are crushed and mixed with sweet water, after which they are left for active fermentation in an open container (jar, enamel pan). The fermentation process should take place away from direct sunlight so that it does not suppress the growth of yeast, which will turn the berry base into vinegar. Active fermentation lasts 2 weeks + 4 days.

After the active fermentation stage, homemade vinegar is filtered and left to passive fermentation. This takes from 4 to 6 weeks. During this time, acidity increases in the vinegar and it becomes transparent. When the ripening process is completed, it is recommended to bottle the vinegar. You can prepare a large batch at once during the season - fruit and berry vinegar will be stored for 8-9 years.

What kind of vinegar will we prepare today? Homemade vinegar made from a mixture of red and black currants.

So, meet: currant vinegar. It has a characteristic subtle, not too strong aroma, which makes it an excellent universal vinegar for adding to many dishes.

Preparation time: approximately 2.5 months / Yield: approximately 1.5 liters

Ingredients

• red currants 500 g
• black currant 250 g
• sugar 120 g
• water 1.5 l

Preparation

Big photos Small photos

Stage I. Active fermentation. Pour a glass of water from the amount indicated in the ingredients into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. The rest of the water should be cool, but it also needs to be boiled first (or use filtered water).
Pour sugar into a three-liter jar.



Pour boiling water into the sugar and stir until completely dissolved.



Then pour all the remaining cool water into the jar. The temperature of the water in the jar should eventually be room temperature.



Now get to the berries. Place them in a deep bowl.



Use your hands or a pestle to crush all the berries.



Place the pulp along with the juice in a jar of sweet water.



Cover the jar with gauze folded in 4 layers or with a piece of glue-free non-woven fabric. Place a rubber band around the neck to prevent anything from getting inside the jar (for example, midges that will try to get inside when the fermentation process begins - oh, how active they are!).



Place the jar in a dark place. Stir the mixture daily for 2 weeks. During this time, the vinegar will go through the stage of active fermentation. At first, the berries will float to the top and numerous air bubbles will be visible.



Then gradually, as the yeast produces sugar, fermentation will begin to fade, and the pulp will sink to the bottom.



After two weeks of stirring, leave the vinegar alone for another 4 days. All the berries will settle to the bottom.



Filtration. Strain the vinegar through a sieve lined with cheesecloth to filter out the liquid.



Squeeze out the pulp thoroughly and pour the vinegar into a clean jar. At this stage, the vinegar will still be cloudy and weak - it will taste only slightly sour.



Stage II. Passive fermentation. Cover the jar of vinegar in the same way as you did it first - with gauze or non-woven fabric. Remove the jar of vinegar from a dark place and leave it alone for 4-6 weeks. Now the stage of passive fermentation begins, during which there is no need to stir the vinegar.

During this time, the vinegar will become transparent (can one say so?), a sediment will form, and films may form on the surface. Make sure that there is no mold on these films - this will indicate that the vinegar is spoiled and you just need to throw it away.

Why does mold form? Mold can form if, at the time of filtration, the vinegar has not reached the required degree of acidity, and the acid does not suppress the development of mold, as it should happen during the normal process of making homemade vinegar. That is, the technology regarding fermentation time is simply broken.



When the vinegar becomes clear, use the dripper tube to carefully remove the sediment from the vinegar.



Bottle the vinegar, cap, and store at room temperature (but not too hot).
Be sure to taste your homemade vinegar - it should be distinctly sour. Storage benefits vinegar - it makes it even stronger.

Vinegar is the end result of the fermentation process, the destruction of sugar contained in the original product by yeast bacteria. First, alcohol is obtained from sugar, and if the fermentation process is not stopped, then alcohol later becomes vinegar.

Fruits, vegetables, and grains can be used as raw materials for vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is produced from apples, which is widely used not only in cooking, cosmetology, but also in folk medicine. It is even called a cure for all diseases. Such widespread use of this product is explained by the content in it: potassium, calcium, iron, amino acids, boron, etc.

For the industrial preparation of vinegar, apple peel, core and apple pulp are used as raw materials, which remain as waste during the production of juices, marmalades and jams. Homemade recipes use whole apples, apple juice and pulp, which makes homemade vinegar richer in nutrients.

You can additionally enrich homemade apple cider vinegar with useful macro- and microelements if you use honey instead of sugar to prepare it. This bee product makes the final product rich in potassium. For the first time, such a recipe for making vinegar was proposed by the American doctor D-S. Jarvis.

If you have any apples left after cooking, be sure to prepare apple cider vinegar using one of the recipes below.

Homemade apple cider vinegar: a simple recipe

There are many recipes for making apple cider vinegar at home. They differ not only in the ingredients needed for preparation, but also in the duration and complexity of the preparation steps.

The recipe below is simple in every way. It only requires 3 ingredients and 4 weeks to prepare, but first things first.

Ingredients:

• apples – 1 kilogram,
• sugar – 50 grams for sweet apples or 100 for sour ones,
• water - about 1 liter.

1. Wash the apples and cut off any spoiled areas. Then, together with the peel and core, cut into not very small pieces and place in a glass, enamel or earthenware bowl.
2. Add sugar to apples.
3. Boil water, cool to 70 degrees and pour over apples.
4. Place the container in a dark and warm place for 2 weeks, remembering to stir the contents 2-3 times a day.
5. After 14 days, carefully strain the liquid through 3–4 layers of gauze into a glass jar, not adding 5–7 centimeters to the brim.
6. Cover the jar with several layers of gauze and put it back in a warm place for another 2 weeks.

Strain the finished apple cider vinegar and pour into bottles, without stirring the sediment at the bottom of the jar. Seal the bottles tightly.

A simple recipe for apple cider vinegar from pulp

After preparing preserved apples (for example, juice), a pulp remains that can be used for apple cider vinegar. The only disadvantage of this recipe is that very fine cake will be difficult to filter.

Ingredients:

• fresh apple pulp – 1 kilogram,
• sugar – 0.5 cups,
• water – 1.5 liters.

Cooking sequence:

1. Place the pulp, sugar in a glass jar with a wide neck and add warm boiled water. The water should be a few centimeters above the cake.
2. Cover the jar with several layers of gauze and put it in a dark and warm place for 60 - 90 days.
3. After time, drain the prepared vinegar, strain through cheesecloth and pour into bottles for storage.

Apple juice vinegar

You can get the clearest apple cider vinegar from apple juice. The juice for vinegar should be without pulp. To prepare it, you can use a juicer.

Ingredients:

• apple juice – 3 liters.

Cooking sequence:

1. Pour apple juice into a 4 liter bottle. Put a medical glove on the neck of the jar and leave it to ferment for 4 weeks in a warm place. If the glove bursts during this time, replace it with a new one.
2. After a month, pour the contents into an enamel pan with a wide bottom, cover with several layers of gauze and leave to ferment for another 1.5 - 2 months.
3. When the strong unpleasant odor disappears, the vinegar is ready.

Prepared homemade apple cider vinegar is stored in tightly closed glass bottles at temperatures from 5 to 25C. The ideal place to store it is in the refrigerator door or on a shelf in a cool pantry. The shelf life of homemade vinegar is 2-3 years.

Natural homemade apple cider vinegar, a few spoons of which contains both medicine, a food vitamin supplement, and simply a refreshing drink in the summer heat. I'm preparing its 4th season.

Recipe from Jarvis’s book “Honey and other natural products” and N. Kobzar’s book “Nature-appropriate nutrition. The path to health."

Preparation of apple cider vinegar occurs in three stages. All manipulations are simple, although they take a long time. The actual busy time from cooking is not long. Depending on the initial quantity/quality of apples, the longest time is preparing the apples, and then pressing them.

Ingredients of apple cider vinegar:

1st stage:

• 400 g apples
• 500 ml water
• 50 g sugar/honey
• 10 g black bread (small cracker)

2nd stage:

• 100 g honey/sugar per liter of liquid

How to make apple cider vinegar at home - a simple recipe:

Step 1 of making homemade apple cider vinegar

1. Any apples will be suitable for vinegar. And even better, in my opinion, is a mixture of apples. Wash, clean from wormy, spoiled areas. If you have selected apples, without any nuances, then grate them entirely (along with the core, seeds, and skins). Also, if you are drying apples, you can use the skins/cores left over from apple peeling. This year my apple trees are resting and I'm using the falling fruit from my grandpa's orchard.

   

   Preparing the apples

2. We grate on a coarse grater manually or with the help of your kitchen assistants (blender, food processor...). You can also chop it finely. This year I use an attachment (a large grater in a food processor) for 6.5 kg of prepared apples (in the past I grated 10-12 kg by hand - I had more time).

   

   Rub it

3. Pour the apple mixture with warm boiled water. In the proportion for every 400 g of apples 500 ml of water (for 4 kg of apples - 5 liters of water), we feed our future vinegar with honey or sugar and a cracker of black bread. This time I'm using sugar. Stir with a wooden spatula/spoon.

   

   Adding ingredients for stage 1

4. Place the container in a dark place with a temperature of 20-30ºC, covering it with cloth or gauze, and leave it for ten days, stirring the contents daily with a wooden spatula two to three times a day.

   Attention! At this stage we use an enamel pan, basin, bucket or glass or wooden container. A metal container is not suitable!

   The fermentation process is facilitated by: constant temperature, darkness and a wide area of ​​​​contact of the future vinegar with air. I have a huge saucepan, which I put in the garage for these ten days and cover with a towel (from midges). I also add some prepared vinegar from last year that was left with the sediment.

   Step 2 of making apple cider vinegar at home

5. After 10 days, strain and squeeze the mixture through 4 layers of gauze. I place a sieve covered with 4 layers of cheesecloth in a bowl and squeeze it out in sections.

   

   Strain

6. Pour the resulting liquid into 3-liter jars, 2-2.5 liters into each jar, add sugar/honey at the rate of 100 g per liter.

   

   Pouring into jars and adding sugar

7. Stir until dissolved. Cover with a piece of natural fabric and secure (with an elastic band, for example) to prevent midges from getting in.
8. And again we leave the jars in a warm, dark room for another 1.5-2 months (during this time, no active participation on your part is required, although the vinegar will definitely be pleasant if you look at it and remember time about time 😉😂).

   

   Leave the vinegar for 1.5-2 months

   Depending on the apple variety and other conditions, your homemade apple cider vinegar will be ready after this time. I usually remember about it after 2-3 months. At this time, the vinegar is fermenting, “playing” (so do not fill the jar to the top). A vinegar uterus will form on top in the form of a film or even a thick, approximately half a centimeter, mucous formation. During this time, the liquid itself becomes transparent, a sediment forms at the bottom, and now the vinegar is considered ready.

Step 3 of making apple cider vinegar at home

• Insert a watering can covered with gauze folded in 4-5 layers into suitable clean bottles and pour the vinegar.
• Close tightly with lids (according to the recipe, you need to seal with wax; I have screw-on lids, which I additionally line with a square of parchment paper) and store in a cool place. My main volume is stored in the basement, and the duty bottle is in the refrigerator.

Where can you use homemade apple cider vinegar:

• dressing salads;
• add to hummus and when cooking instead of lemon;
• extinguish baking soda;
• use in or in other preparations for the winter;
• drink in the morning/evening or on hot days for refreshment in this form: add 1-2 tsp to a glass of water. vinegar and 1 tsp. honey;
• gargle when it bothers you: 1-2 tsp. vinegar in a glass of water, rinse every hour (rinse and swallow, washing the back of the throat)…

Be careful with yourself, natural apple cider vinegar is an acid. Notice this obvious fact.

The_host author of the recipe