Vinegars!

Until a year ago I had no idea you could make your own vinegar! What?! Yes! You can and even if the thought has never crossed your mind, it's a fun experiment. I'm still fermenting and my previous attempts failed in mold but this time things seem to be going better in my kitchen laboratory!

These next pics are of my lemon vinegar. Simply pour store-bought white vinegar over a jar full of lemon scraps, peels, and slices. Let that sit for a two to three weeks, strain, dilute with distilled water, and use the lemony-scented vinegar for cleaning kitchen counters, washing mirrors and windows, dilute for mopping, scrubbing the shower or tub, I even spray it on my hair after the shower to help soften  my locks! I'll never add my lemon scraps to the compost pile again!

If you know me, you know I hate waste. I dislike tossing things out that still have good life in them. We reuse, recycle, reduce, and compost as much as we can. But I've been wasting my fruit scraps in the compost all these years! I love making things from scratch...

Vinegar is so fun and easy to make using these scraps of fruit we might normally toss. Save your apple peels and cores (I've also tried pears and read articles about other fruits like peaches, berries, and grapes, too). Allow your scraps to dry out for a few days. I simply lay them out on newspaper on a sunny spot on my kitchen counter that's out of the way and in about four days they're dry.

Add your fruit scraps to a mason jar or whatever glass container you need based on your volume. I have been making quite small batches. Cover fruit with distilled water. You can continue adding your dried fruit and capping off with the water until your container is full (or as full as you want it). Keep the jar covered with cheesecloth, a paper towel, or what I use, an unbleached coffee filter and secure with a rubber band. Note that plastics and metals interact with the vinegar in a bad way and should not be used. Let this sit in a warm spot out of direct light (top of the fridge or hot water closet) for about a week after you've filled your jar. Stir every other day or so to prevent molding.

After about one week of fermentation, give it a smell. Does it smell lightly vinegary? Has the liquid darkened in color? If not, let it ferment for another week (stir daily or at least every other day!). Strain into clean glass. Toss your apple and fruit pieces, peels, chunks, etc. in your compost - they've now done triple duty!

Pour your vinegar back into the original glass - the oozy, filmy, slimy, thickened "stuff" on the bottom is what they refer to as the mother. That's the "alive" part of vinegar and the most potent part. This "mother" also allows you to continue making vinegar without additional fruit - sort of along the same lines as a sourdough bread starter. Only this is a fruit vinegar starter!

Put your breathable lid (cloth, paper towel, or paper coffee filter) back on your jar and now place it in a warm (room temp is fine) dark place. I keep mine in a cabinet that is between the fridge and the oven so it stays warmer there and no sunlight reaches the cabinet either. Let it continue the fermentation process for up to 6 or 8 more weeks. Check weekly for color, smell, and taste. When it "tastes" ready for you (as vinegary as you want it) then it's ready to use!

When it's ready to use, strain mixture into a clean jar using a fine sieve. Keep the mother and at least 1 ounce of vinegar in your original jar. Put a plastic lid on the strained, clean vinegar and stick it in the fridge for longest shelf life. Use as needed! I use my fresh, organic vinegar in everything from sauce, condiments, broth, stew, and all sorts of dinner recipes plus it's an excellent natural hair rinse, facial astringent and toner, and apple cider vinegar (ACV) has tons of medicinal / herbal uses. People use ACV as a gargle to relieve sore throats, coughs, and colds.

My small batches don't last me very long! But now I'm ready to try making it from scratch using the mother as a starter! I also want to make wine vinegar and champagne vinegar, but never want to spare my drinking wines "just" to make vinegar! ;) Have you made vinegar before? Tell me all about it!