Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Lazy Girl's Guide to Apple Cider Vinegar

I don't know about you but in our family when we use a lot of something the first thing I think is, "I wonder if I can make this cheaper?" For a while I noticed that we were steadily using more and more raw apple cider vinegar and it is pretty expensive compared to a bottle of regular. We use it to make dressings and sauces, tinctures and home remedies, we use it for a conditioning rinse and sometimes just drink it straight for an energy boost! In fact it is kind of like in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding with the uncle who uses Windex for everything.

Feeling sick? You just take some vinegar. Dish need something? Add some vinegar. Ran out of your favorite beauty product? Use some vinegar! It is one of those household staples for us and I finally can say that I made some of my very own.

The funny thing is I thought it would be a lot harder than it was. The worst part is having patience and waiting :)  I also helps to have an awesome friend who gives you some homemade apple cider so you can experiment, thanks Hannah!

Really simple process here: you get some homemade or unpasteurized apple cider.

Put the cider in glass gallon jars and place a coffee filter or cheese cloth over the top and secure with a rubber band. To let the gasses out and keep the bugs from getting in.

Now find somewhere to sit your cider vinegar for 6-12 months. It is best to have it somewhere where little fingers don't poke holes in the coffee filer just to see what is in there. I know from experience.

You also want to make sure that it is also in a warm place to keep the process moving along however, the one time because I put it out of the house when we had visitors it froze, it didn't seem to affect the final product, so if you accidentally freeze it that is okay too. Pretty hardy stuff.

It will make a bunch of these mother cultures, kind of like kombucha if you are familiar with that process. I found out something interesting while having giant jars of vinegar on display in my house. My husband's grandma Pearl, who we named my oldest child after, used to have a vinegar barrel with a tap on the bottom that she would add cider to and tap out the finished product from the bottom. That probably had a very large mother culture! It is also neat to think that we are doing some of the things our family members have done in generations past.

When it is finished, after about 6-12 months, you just strain out the vinegar with cheese cloth into glass jars and use as you would any other raw cider vinegar! I like the fact that you basically ignore this stuff and it becomes vinegar. Very easy for a lazy, pregnant mommy to handle!

What do you use you use raw vinegar for? I love to hear about new ideas for one of my favorite panty items.
                                                               The Farmer in the Dell








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