Course Natural Medicine Beverage, Preserved Food, Salad Dressing, Sauce
Cuisine American
Servings 1gallon
Calories 3kcal
Equipment
fermenting vessel
Ingredients
Apple Ingredients
1gallonfiltered water
1cupsugarper gallon of water
diced apple chunks or apple scraps (skins, cores)enough to fill half of the fermenting vessel
Instructions
Preparation Instructions
Wash and chop the apples into chunks, or gather collected apple scraps and add them to your jar or other large fermenting vessel until it filled about halfway full.
Pour lukewarm filtered water over the apples into the container until it is almost full, but measure/note the total amount of water added.
Stir in sugar in ratios of 1 tablespoon of sugar per cup of water added, or for larger batches, 1 cup of sugar per gallon of water added.
Optional: Add a splash of finished organic apple cider vinegar to inoculate the culture and encourage fermenting.
Stir combined ingredients until thoroughly mixed, and cover with breathable material.
Store in a dark location around 70 to 75 degrees F for two weeks to ferment, and stir every day to prevent mold from forming on top.
After two weeks, strain and reserve the liquid into a similar sized container and cover again. Compost the spent fruit.
Move the covered container of liquid to a location that is out of the way to continue long term fermentation. Maintain dark.
After one month, sample the vinegar to see if it is finished fermenting and tart to your liking. If needed, allow it to continue to ferment for a total of two to three months.
Once it is fermented to your desired flavor, transfer the apple cider vinegar into bottles with lids, and store at room temperature or in the refrigerator, and enjoy!
Properly fermented apple cider vinegar should stay good for over a year.
Notes
This recipe makes use of unwanted apple scraps, minimizing waste and creating a healthy condiment.