Apple cider vinegar is easy to buy for a small price. But making your own is even easier. If you buy organic fruits, the skins are perfectly safe to eat. We’ve got a few ideas for using up your fruit peelings, which might just help neutralize your global footprint, but we’ll start with healthy and fermented vinegar. We can sip apple cider vinegar diluted with water to start every day, but there are hundreds of other wonderful ways it can be used.
Tip
Cider vinegar is delicious splashed into many recipes, from soups to meats to seafood. We’ve created a Maple Apple Bear Butter that also lends itself well to a little added splash of cider vinegar.
Fruit Peel and Apple Cider Vinegar
Ingredients
- 4 cups (1 L) mixture of apple peels, cores, and bruised and chopped apples
- 2 in (5 cm) piece fresh unpeeled ginger root, sliced
- 2 Tbsp (30 mL) raw sugar
- Distilled water
Nutrition
Per serving:
- calories14
- protein0g
- fat0g
- saturated fat0g
- trans fat0g
- carbohydrates4g
- sugars3g
- fibre1g
- sodium0mg
Directions
01
Clean and sterilize 1.5 L canning jar. Press and mash down apple peels, cores, and bruised chopped apples along with ginger root into jar.
02
Dissolve sugar in enough distilled water to cover apples. You will need to press down—apples need to be completely submerged. Add a little more distilled water if needed. Weigh down apples with a heavy sterilized weight that fits into jar. Cover with cheesecloth and secure with rubber band.
03
Leave in a dark place at room temperature for about 3 weeks. Check on it every couple of days to make sure fruit is still submerged and no mold is growing. Apples exposed to air will cause mold. Be quick to scoop out mold and discard. The mold will not spoil the vinegar unless it goes deeper inside the jar.
04
Note: do not mistake mold for the "mother" which is the culture of beneficial bacteria that makes fermentation work more quickly.
05
After 3 weeks, the apple mixture will smell rather sweet. Strain and return liquid to jar. Cover with cheesecloth and rubber band and allow it to rest at room temperature for another 3 weeks. Stir every few days.
06
It will turn in scent and suddenly reach a tartness, at which time it's ready. Apply canning lid on top and refrigerate before use.
Irene McGuinness is a writer, recipe developer, food stylist for numerous magazines and corporations, and alumna of the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University
