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How to Make Vinegar from Scratch

Two jars of homemade fermented fruit vinegar with fresh apples in the background.
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My easy fermented fruit vinegar recipe requires only three ingredients: fruit, sugar and water. This is the perfect recipe to use up fruit scraps and overripe fruit. You can use this recipe to make homemade apple cider vinegar, apple scrap vinegar, berry vinegar, and more!

Ingredients

  • 6 cups of fruit*
  • 255 grams of organic cane sugar
  • Water
  • 3 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar with the mother
  • 1 gallon glass jar
  • tight-weave cloth covering
  • rubber band

Instructions

  1. Please read the recipe notes.
  2. Chop the fruit into small chunks.
  3. Add the sugar and apples (or other fruit) to a 1-gallon glass jar.
  4. Add water to the jar until full.
  5. 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.
  6. Stir the mixture until all the sugar is dissolved.
  7. Place a cloth lid (tight-weave is best, like t-shirt material) on the jar and secure with a rubber band.
  8. 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 just do it first thing in the morning each day.
  9. You should notice the mixture bubble within one week.
  10. After three weeks of fermentation, strain out all the fruit pieces, replace the cloth lid and allow the mixture to ferment for 6 more weeks.
  11. 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 fruit vinegar.
  12. After fermentation, bottle the vinegar and seal it with a solid lid. Store at room temperature in your pantry.

Notes

  • you can use any of your favorite fruits in this recipe. High fructose and fructan fruits tend to make the best vinegar. See a list of my favorite fruits above the recipe card. Use organic and homegrown fruit whenever possible. Conventional fruits sprayed with pesticides may not work well and may lead to kahm yeast.
  • 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 also add in some sulfite-free wine, tequila, or vodka in place of some of the water.

Find it online: https://cultured.guru/blog/how-to-make-vinegar-from-scratch