Homemade Apple Scrap Vinegar Using Peels and Cores
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If you took a gander into my fridge freezer in my kitchen, you’d see a hodge podge of freezer bags and containers full of random things and you’d probably think I’ve lost my ever loving mind if you’re not into the lifestyle I lead. If you are, you wouldn’t be the least bit surprised by what you see. Bags with random bones, connective tissue, and fat trimmings. Another bag with onion peels and carrot peels frozen for broth making later on. And some more bags with apple cores and peels. Plus another bag with random strawberry tops I meant to use and forgot about.
I have been making my own apple scrap vinegar for several years now and use it entirely in place of apple cider vinegar now. I can produce it at home with what is seemingly by-products of canning for little to no extra money involved. Making homemade vinegar really is as simple as adding ingredients and letting them ferment in a jar and if you have a vinegar mother like I do, named Big Mama, it goes quick. Combat food waste by using every bit and part of apples you source from a local farm or grow yourself. Don’t let all that hard work go to waste. When life gives you apple peels, you make vinegar!
This is NOT homemade apple cider vinegar because it’s not made with the juice from the whole apple, aka apple cider, it’s made with apple scraps. It does, however, replace apple cider vinegar for me. You’ll commonly see folks making apple scrap vinegar on the interwebs and just calling it ACV and… unpopular opinion probably, but whatever… it’s not real apple cider vinegar. Why? BECAUSE IT’S NOT MADE WITH CIDER. Ahem. Many people like apple scrap vinegar much better than apple cider vinegar because the flavor is much more mild and doesn’t assault your tastebuds like ACV does, but it is also a higher in pH, too. So it’s not recommended to use it in canning. Don’t ask me what I do, because you probably already know. It makes some really good pickles! And since it’s not as assaulting to the tastebuds, it makes some pretty stellar salad dressings.
Start by collecting your apple scraps. Â Save all the cores and peels after you make apple pies and when you’re canning applesauce. Â If you are blessed with overly abundant apple trees at your disposal, feel free to use chopped up apple pieces from whole apples and not just the scraps! Â It works the same with fresh apples! Â Avoid any rotten areas or mold and for the love don’t save the ones you’ve chewed directly on… that’s weird… all these things will infect your ferment and turn it the wrong direction. Â I have a bag in my freezer I continuously add to. Â
I prefer to make all my vinegars in the winter when the fruit flies have returned to hell, where they belong. Â I freeze all my apple peels and cores from canning apples in season to make homemade apple scrap vinegar in the winter, otherwise I will be fishing fruit flies out of that stuff until the Lord returns. Â Bugs are not a protein I wish to consume and I thank my lucky stars every day I don’t have to eat locusts and honey like John the Baptist. Â Personal preference, you can make it whenever you want, but there’s always a method to my madness.
Apple scrap vinegar is a great way to learn how to make fruit based vinegars your first time. It’s rather easy and very forgiving!
Equipment
- Half gallon glass jar
- Fermenting glass weight
- Tightly woven cotton towel & rubber band
Ingredients
- Apple scraps
- Unrefined sugar
- filtered water
- Vinegar mother, if you have one
Step 1: Pack Jars
Using 1/2 gallon mason jar, be sure it is is a clean jar that’s been sanitized so you don’t start off contaminating your ferment right off the bat. You want to give the good bacteria the best chance of taking over. Add in apple scraps, layering lightly. There is no need to tightly pack. Leave about 2″ of headspace at the top of the jar.
Step 2: Add Liquid from Previous Ferment
Add 2 Tablespoons of raw vinegar (like raw apple cider vinegar from the store… don’t use Braggs though cause ole Billy Gates has a hand in that brand now) or some from a previous batch of apple scrap vinegar to the jar. I like to add vinegar from a previous ferment to jumpstart everything. If you are using a mother, you can skip this step of adding previous ferment juice and just slap a hunk of mama in there. She’ll do good by ya!
Step 3: Add the Liquid
Warm up 5 cups filtered water. I don’t use tap water for my ferments as a personal preference; I use filtered water from my Berkey so I’m not adding anything crazy in from our well water. I’m sure tap water works fine… it’s just me being a little weird. Just don’t use chlorinated water. Add in 5 teaspoons of raw, unrefined sugar and stir to mix sugar in and dissolve. Your ratio is 1 cup of water to 1 teaspoon of sugar in case you need more liquid to fill the jars. I normally need 5 cups to fill a half gallon jar filled with scraps. Pour into the jar until the liquid just covers the apple scraps. Be sure the apple scraps can be completely submerged beneath the liquid. They need to be completely submerged to prevent mold growth.
Adding sugar to this is vital to be successful with making vinegar. Don’t skip it. If you’re worried about sugar consumption due to dietary needs, don’t, because the fermentation process uses the sugar as fuel and it isn’t present in the end product.
Step 4: Weight Down
Stir the apple scraps and sugar water well within the jar. Then, top with a glass fermentation weight, again being sure all apple scraps are submerged. It sometimes works well to layer 4-5 cores on top like Lincoln Logs (nostalgia anyone?) and then place the vinegar mother on top (if you have one), and then the weight to help hold the little pieces under. Those tiny peel scraps sure have a way of sneakin’ around the weights. The fruit needs to be submerged completely or it runs a high risk of molding which ruins the entire ferment. I know I’m being repetitive, but this was something I had to learn the hard way. SUBMERGE THE DOGGONE FRUIT. :D
If you don’t own a glass or ceramic fermenting weight, try and get some, they’re invaluable and are reusable. You can make do with a small sandwich sized ziploc bag with a bit of water in it to cover your ferment and hold it under water. I’m not over thrilled about fermenting plastic in my jars, though. But it works.
Step 5: Let it Sit
Cover with a tightly woven towel and secure with a rubber band. Let sit for 4-5 weeks in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight. Room temperature is fine, just keep it away from extreme temps. You don’t want your little bacteria getting too hot! This can be in a basement cellar or even in a kitchen cabinet. The warmer it is, the faster it ferments.
After this time, strain the apple scraps out into layers of several pieces of muslin placed over a fine-mesh strainer and SQUEEZE. Make sure you have a clean bowl underneath the strainer to capture the vinegar…. speaking from personal experience as a harebrained human that dumped hers directly down the drain. I offer these scraps to the chickens or dump into my compost pile once done with them! The chickens usually gobble them right up.
Taste and see if it’s where you like it. If it’s not, let it sit a bit longer. If you’re unsure, you can always use a pH strip to test the pH to see where the acidity level is at; aim for vinegars to be around 2-3 but apple scrap may sit a bit higher in pH than that. You vinegar should smell like…. vinegar. If it doesn’t, something went very wrong and you need to toss it.
Step 6: Storing
To store, place an air tight lid on the jar it’s in or dump into a glass swing top bottle, cap it, and store on the shelf. No need to buy ACV anymore!
This is shelf stable indefinitely. If you keep it in a sealed container and leave no fruit bits behind and strain it well, it will keep forever. It’s vinegar. It doesn’t have to be in the refrigerator (JEN), it can be on the shelf. THE SHELF. Because it’s vinegar.
And there ya have it. Your very own batch of vinegar. Easy peasy! No more store-bought vinegar!
Fruit based vinegars are super easy and super delicious to make! Definitely try using other fruit scraps to make your own vinegars next time using this same method. Here’s a list of my favorites:
- Pineapple Vinegar – use the cores and peels chopped up and make vinegar using this same method
- Strawberry Top Vinegar – save the tops of your strawberries after canning or making pie and make some really pretty pink vinegar that makes an amazing salad dressing!
- Peach Scrap Vinegar – use the peels, pits, and any leftover juice from canning. I always pack a jar with peels and ferment it into a really interesting vinegar that leaves people asking “what is that?” when you make a really good vinaigrette or marinade for chicken. It’s the bomb!
Troubleshooting Tips
- Kahm Yeast: A lot of folks confuse kahm for mold. Know the difference by researching and looking at pictures. Toss any ferment that molds. Kahm is not the end of the world and does not ruin a ferment. It MAY affect the taste, but I’ve not noticed anything crazy. Research this one because this is one of the main questions I get asked with pictures of folks ferments.
- If you vinegar forms a slimy disc at the top, that’s a mother! Save her for the next batch. I store Big Mama (my vinegar mother) in a jar with a previous batch of apple scrap vinegar and she happily exists there waiting for her next batch of vinegar children. She can be used for any vinegar ferments I do, not just apple scrap.
Equipment
- Half gallon wide mouth mason jar
- Tightly woven cotton towel & rubber band
- Fermenting Weight
Ingredients
- 1 pound apple scraps peels, cores
- 6 cups filtered water warm
- 5 teaspoons raw, unrefined sugar
Instructions
- Add about 1 pound of apple scraps to a clean, half gallon wide mouth jar. I fill my jar to about 2" headspace.
- Measure out warm water and add sugar and stir to dissolve completely. Once dissolved, pour water over top of apple scraps. Be sure you have enough liquid to cover the apple scraps. If not, mix up more liquid at a ratio of 1 cup warm water to 1 teaspoon sugar and add more.
- Weight down the apple scraps with a fermenting weight. It's helpful to add a few apple cores to the top of the ferment to weight down the smaller scrap pieces. Be sure everything is submerged to prevent mold.
- Cover top of jar with a tightly woven towel and secure with a canning ring or rubber band. Set jar somewhere out of direct sunlight at room temperature. Let sit for 4-5 weeks.
- After this time, strain vinegar using several layers of cheesecloth placed overtop of a fine mesh strainer. Taste the vinegar and see if it is to your liking. If it needs more time, pour it back into the jar and allow it to sit for another week or two, tasting as you go until you reach your goal.
- If you are unsure your vinegar is done, you can test it with a pH strip meant for food, as vinegars are usually around 2-3 and apple scrap vinegar will sit just a bit higher than that.
- To store, leave the vinegar in the jar that it's in and add a lid or pour into swing top bottles for smaller servings. Your preference. Vinegar is shelf stable, meaning you can store it on the shelf until you need it and it doesn't require refrigeration.
Notes
- Kahm Yeast:  A lot of folks confuse kahm for mold.  Know the difference by researching and looking at pictures.  Toss any ferment that molds.  Kahm is not the end of the world and does not ruin a ferment.  It MAY affect the taste, but I’ve not noticed anything crazy.  Research this one because this is one of the main questions I get asked with pictures of folks ferments.
- If you vinegar forms a slimy disc at the top, that’s a mother!  Save her for the next batch.  I store Big Mama (my vinegar mother) in a jar with a previous batch of apple scrap vinegar and she happily exists there waiting for her next batch of vinegar children. She can be used for any vinegar ferments I do, not just apple scrap.
