How to Make Apple Scrap Vinegar
Waste not, want not. How many times have we all heard that? Making apple scrap vinegar is one of those times you can say you didn’t waste anything and came out with a great product.
What is Apple Scrap Vinegar?
If you use Apple Cider Vinegar in your house, you know that it is a vinegar made out of apples (specifically apple cider). When we purchase apple cider vinegar, we will buy an organic version with “the mother,” which means it has strands of protein full of enzymes and beneficial bacteria, which is good for so many reasons. We usually will buy Bragg ACV, but there are several organic brands out there. This type of vinegar is made out of apple cider.
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However, if you have apples, then you can easily make your own apple scrap vinegar with just the scraps that you would usually toss anyway and still get all the health benefits.
Apple scrap vinegar is a bit different than apple cider vinegar, but well worth it to make at home to use in the same way you would use any organic apple cider vinegar from the store (EXCEPT do not use for canning since the percentage of acidity is unknown and may not be safe).
Check out this article for more information on the benefits of apple cider vinegar.
What is the Process to Making Apple Scrap Vinegar?
This is one of those things that once you make a batch, you will wonder why you didn’t try making it sooner. It is so easy and uses parts of the apple that probably would have been a waste product in your home before (unless your chickens love apple scraps).
The first thing I do is try to only use organic or local no/low spray options for my apples. You want as clean a product as you can get.
Wash the apples you are going to use and peel and core as normal. Save any parts you are not using for your apple sauce, pie, or plain eating.
When you mix these apple scraps with water and sugars, the fermentation process begins. The beneficial bacteria eats away at the sugars as it sits out on the counter at room temperature. If this is your first try at fermenting, you might want to check out Nourished Kitchen’s blog for a lot more information on how to ferment, why you should, and many great recipes.
Two ways to go about it
A lot of times I will use a few apples and have cores and peels from them. When this happens, I toss them in a bag in the freezer until I have enough to make a batch of apple cider vinegar. A batch can be any size you want it to be. I would start with at least a quart jar full, though.
Other times I am making a big batch of apple sauce, apple pie filling, or something else that is going to leave me with a big batch of peels and cores. This is when I plan to set the peels aside to make apple scrap vinegar right away.
Step By Step how to make Apple Scrap Vinegar
Items you will need:
- Apple scraps (cores and peels)
- Filtered water
- Sugar or honey
- Apple cider vinegar (optional)
- Glass jars
- some sort of covering that will be loose and breathable (coffee filter, cloth)
First make sure you jars are clean. Then you will take all the scraps and place them in the jar.
Fill up the glass jar about 3/4 of the way full with apple scraps. This isn’t science here, you just want enough room for the liquid.
Mix up 1 tablespoon of sugar to each 1 cup of filtered water. Make as much as you need in this ratio. Pour it over the apple scraps until it covers them. Leave a few inches on top. This is where you can add a pour of the raw apple cider vinegar you already have if you desire.
You will want the apple scraps to stay below the water so that during the fermentation process they do not mold. You can do this with a glass fermentation weight. I have these and really like how easy they are to use. If you don’t have one, you can use a clean stone in a zip top bag. Or just be careful to make sure you keep the scraps under the water, checking a few times each day and poking them under with your fingers.
Then you will store the jar in a dark place for about 2 weeks. Stir it every few days to make sure the sugar doesn’t sit on the bottom and the scraps move around the jar. A lot of time there will be a foamy gunk that will form on the top. I just scoop that off and throw it into the sink.
After about 2 weeks, you will want to strain the scraps out of the liquid. Use a fine mesh strainer or even a clean scrap from an old tee shirt. You are going to put the liquid back in the jar for the next step.
After you strain the scraps, the vinegar isn’t quite done.
So next you will leave it on the counter again or in a dark cupboard for another 2-6 weeks. Check along the way and see if it has reached the amount of tang you like.
Then go ahead and store it with a lid. It can last forever, but probably won’t as you will be using it up for cooking and cleaning and all the ways you use vinegar.
What is “the mother?”
The first time I did this many years ago, I found a huge slimy thing on the top and kinda freaked out. The source I had used to learn how to make the apple scrap vinegar didn’t mention this at all. The vinegar turned out great, but I was scared to use it. I ended up only using the vinegar in my chicken waterers.
Had I known that I had grown a beautiful “mother” like the scooby for kombucha, I would have treated the situation very differently. So if you have this blob on your vinegar, you have a few options here. You can just throw it out. But it can be reused again to help your next batch of apple scrap vinegar get started. If you choose to keep it, you can keep it floating around in your batch of vinegar to save until the next batch.
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