Homemade Tomato Vinegar Made With Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes
My easy tomato vinegar recipe requires only four ingredients: tomatoes, sugar, raw vinegar for a starter culture, and water. This is the perfect recipe to use up extra tomatoes in the summer. I like to use cherry tomatoes, but you can use any kind of tomato in this recipe.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 32 ounces
- Category: Vinegar
- Method: Fermentation
Ingredients
- 3 cups cherry tomatoes
- 56 grams of organic cane sugar
- Water
- 3 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar with the mother
- 32 ounce glass jar
- cloth covering
- rubber band
Instructions
- Please read the recipe notes.
- Add the sugar and tomatoes to a 1-quart glass jar.
- Add water to the jar until full.
- Add in a few tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar with the mother. This helps establish a good microbial community, and while it isn’t absolutely necessary to add, I highly recommend it. If you’ve made vinegar before and have a vinegar mother, you can add it.
- Stir (or shake) the mixture until all the sugar is dissolved.
- Place a cloth lid on the jar and secure it with a rubber band.
- Stir the mixture once or twice a day and allow to ferment at room temperature for three weeks. Don’t forget to stir it. I like to do it first thing in the morning each day.
- You should notice the mixture bubble within one week.
- After three weeks of fermentation, strain out all the tomato pieces, replace the cloth lid, and allow the mixture to ferment for 6 more weeks. (no need to stir anymore after it is strained)
- You will notice a vinegar mother form on the surface (it looks like a kombucha SCOBY but is very light in color). You can keep this to start your next batch of vinegar.
- After fermentation, bottle the vinegar and seal it with a solid lid. Store at room temperature in your pantry.
Notes
- Vinegar works best with a starter culture. While it is possible to make vinegar without it, adding a vinegar mother or raw apple cider vinegar with the mother to the mixture ensures success. If you have a kombucha SCOBY or raw kombucha, you can sub for that with good results.
- For very strong vinegar, you can add in some sulfite-free wine, tequila, or vodka in place of some of the water.
- For stronger vinegar, you can also add about 1/2 a teaspoon of packaged cider yeast to the mixture.
