My easy pineapple vinegar recipe requires only four ingredients: pineapple scraps, sugar, raw vinegar for a starter culture, and water. This is the perfect recipe to use up pineapple scraps.

How to Make Pineapple Vinegar

Vinegar is made via a two-part fermentation process. First, yeast consume sugars within fruits to produce alcohol, known as alcoholic fermentation.

Second, acetic acid bacteria consume the alcohol from step one and convert it into acetic acid. Once all the alcohol is metabolized by bacteria and converted into acetic acid, you have vinegar.

To make pineapple vinegar at home, you first make wild pineapple wine, which then turns to vinegar!

How to Make Vinegar from Pineapple

It is so easy to make vinegar with pineapple. You only need a few ingredients: pineapple scraps, sugar, raw vinegar (as a starter culture), and water.

It helps if you have some raw apple cider vinegar with the mother as a starter, but it is not 100% necessary. It is possible to make pineapple vinegar with only pineapple scraps, water, and sugar.

close up of pineapple scrap peels floating in sugar water to become pineapple vinegar

bubbly, fermenting pineapple vinegar in a large glass jar

What is a Vinegar Mother?

Vinegar “with the mother” is another name for raw vinegar containing all the microbes from the brewing process. So, think of the mother as microbial cultures. Vinegar mothers form cloudy floating pieces within the vinegar and a SCOBY on the surface.

A vinegar mother SCOBY looks similar to a kombucha SCOBY but is often lighter with varying textures. Vinegar mothers in homemade vinegar are always unique. No two will look exactly the same because the wild microbes from fruit scraps will be slightly different across batches. If it’s not chalky or fuzzy, it’s probably a perfectly normal mother.

You can use the vinegar mother SCOBY from your first batch of vinegar to culture the next batch of vinegar.

Equipment for Vinegar Fermentation

I suggest a gallon glass jar and a cloth cover with a rubber band for this recipe.

You must use a cloth lid when making vinegar because acetic acid bacteria require oxygen to convert alcohol into acetic acid. I usually make cloth lids for fermentation by cutting up old t-shirts.

Here is all the equipment you need:

1 gallon glass jar
a cloth lid and a rubber band
a kitchen scale
large spoon (for stirring daily)

What Do You Use Pineapple Vinegar For?

I use my homemade pineapple vinegar in any recipe where I would use store-bought apple cider vinegar.

Pineapple vinegar may or may not be adequate for pickling and canning pickles. It depends on how ripe the pineapple is. To make a strongly acidic vinegar, use more sugar and scraps from very ripe and sweet pineapple.

You can also test the pH with a pH strip to see if it is good for pickling/canning. Vinegar that is safe for pickling recipes should have approximately 2.4 pH (about 5% acidity).

Here are my favorite ways to use homemade vinegar:

for homemade salad dressing
in heirloom culturing recipes like this fermented green tomato recipe
I love to drizzle it over honeydew melon with raw honey and a pinch of salt.
In mineral-rich hydrating drinks (I like to mix a tablespoon of fruit vinegar into a quart of water with a splash of coconut water, orange juice, and a pinch of sea salt for a homemade hydrating “Gatorade”)

Homemade Pineapple Vinegar

The keys to remember when making pineapple vinegar or any fruit vinegar at home:

Stir the vinegar once daily. Remove the cloth lid, give it a good stir, replace the lid, and repeat daily until you strain the vinegar.
You must use a breathable cloth lid. The microbes involved in vinegar production require oxygen to convert alcohol to acetic acid.
Use a clean glass container. It is best to use glass when fermenting acidic vinegar. Clean your equipment well before getting started.