How to make apple cider vinegar

How to Make Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is a great way to use up apples peels, cores and any bruised windfalls. Crab apples can be used too! Here's a super simple recipe for making this great kitchen staple.

You Will Need

• 1L of water
• 6-12 organic apples. Windfalls are best! Leftover apple cores and peels can work well too. You can also experiment with crab apples instead.
• 100g organic, fairtrade organic sugar
• A large ceramic crock or glass jar
• A clean piece of fabric, cheese cloth, an old t-shirt or dish cloth will do
• Some rope or elastic

Directions

1. This stage is optional but to start with, I bring just over 1L of tap water to boil for 20 minutes. This dechlorinates the water, giving the fermentation the best chance of success. Alternatively leave the water to stand overnight.
2. Stir in 100g of sugar till fully dissolved.
3. I then leave the hot water outside to cool.
4. In the meantime, sterilize the jar or crock that will be used for the ferment. Wash it and pop it in the oven wet, bake for 10 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius.
5. Chop 6-12 apples while you wait. Remove any really bruised or rotten bits. Peels and cores can be included or make up the entirety. Organic, home or wild gathered apples are best, windfalls are great, crab apples work too. Don't wash them, just wipe any mud ect off with a rough dry cloth to preserve beneficial yeasts and bacteria.
6. Fill the sterilized jar with the chopped apples and cooled sugar water.
7. Weight the contents down to keep the apples submerged below the sugar water. I use a ceramic weight, avoid metal.
8. Securely cover the container with the fabric and rope/elastic. You want air to get out but nothing to get in!
9. Leave somewhere warm and dark for 7-10 days.
10. Bubbles will begin to emerge and it will smell a bit ciderish. Stir from time to time.
11. After 7-10 days, strain the liquid off (the apple mush can be eaten – it's good in dahl – or go on the compost).
12. Return the liquid to the the fabric-topped container and ferment for a further week or 2.
13. Once it tastes of vinegar, bottle it up in air-tight bottles and store it somewhere cool.

Note: This is a live fermenting product so be mindful of any pressure building up inside the jar. Burp regularly to avoid explosion.

How to Make Fire Cider

Fire cider is a wonderful concoction for warding off winter coughs and colds. The warming ingredients mean that it really lives up to its name.

Feel free to adjust the ingredients to suit your particular tastes, add more or less of something or omit it entirely.

To maximise the healing value of this mixture, all the ingredients should ideally be organic.

You Will Need

• 4 litre glass jar with a lid (or adjust to your jar size)
• Square of parchment or wax paper to cover the mouth of the jar

Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 bulb of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 chopped lemon
• 5 cm piece of fresh ginger root, grated
• 5–10 cm piece of fresh turmeric root, grated
• 5–10 cm fresh horseradish root, grated
• Raw honey to taste, around 80 ml
• Raw, unpasteurised apple cider vinegar, enough to ensure the other ingredients are submerged

Optional Herbal Extras

• 2 chillies – jalapenos are widely recommended, but I find any will work; go steady on the chilli though, as the ginger and horseradish will already pack a punch
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 2 sprigs of fresh sage
• A few sprigs of dry yarrow leaf
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• A handful of dried elderberries
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 5–10 cloves
• 5–10 star anise
• 1 orange, chopped

Directions

1. Place all the ingredients, apart from the honey, in a jar and cover with your cider vinegar. Ensure the herbs are covered by 5–10 cm of liquid.
2. Pop your square of parchment or wax paper on the mouth of the jar and put the lid on.
3. Leave the mixture somewhere warm with a stable temperature for around three weeks, but shake your jar daily and remove the lid to release any pressure that might be building up if you think the fermentation is continuing.
4. After three weeks, taste your mixture and if you are satisfied with the flavour, take out the herbs and put them on the compost heap.
5. Pour in the honey to taste (if it is solid, it might help to warm it first so that it runs and is easier to pour) and mix well.
6. Bottle your concoction and store it somewhere cool; you can put it in the fridge if you prefer.

Note: This is a live fermenting product so be mindful of any pressure building up inside the jar. Burp regularly to avoid explosion.