When you are eating apples, you probably never think of other amazing things, you can do with them. Well, you can do a lot with apples; you can make apple pies, apple juice, apple cider, apple syrup, and apple cider vinegar.
Making your own apple cider vinegar is a great way to save money. You can make as much of it as you want to enable you to enjoy its benefits – which are many!
But before I tell you about the benefits of apple cider vinegar, let me show you how to make it. This method allows you to use all the parts of the apple, including the peels, so nothing goes to waste. How cool is that? Here are the instructions.
How to make apple cider vinegar at home
Things you need to make apple cider vinegar
Well- scrubbed organic apples that have no mold, fungus, or rot
Clean wide-mouthed glass jar
Clean muslin cloths
Clean wooden spatula
1/4 cup raw sugar
Process of making apple cider vinegar
1. Chop the apples into small cubes flesh, skin, cores and all.
2. Add a quarter cup of sugar to help with the fermentation process. It’s best to use raw sugar.
3. Pour some pure spring water, over the chopped apples until it covers them and leaves only a small space at the top.
4. Cover the jar with the muslin cloth and secure with the rubber bands. You can also use coffee filters if you don’t have muslin cloths.
5. Place the jar with the apple mixture somewhere warm like the pantry.
6. Every other day, stir the mixture with a clean wooden spatula and push the apples down while you do it, so they are covered by the solution.
7. Let the mixture stand for two weeks and then strain out the apple cuttings. Return the liquid in the jars and cover with muslin cloth securing it tightly with rubber bands.
8. After two weeks, the liquid will appear cloudy and foamy. The foam on the top looks like scum, but that is called “the mother.” Do not pour it out.
9. The “mother” is the best part of apple cider vinegar. It contains lots of vitamins and friendly bacteria. It should be whitish in color.
If you see fishy colors like grey, green, blue or black on the foam, throw it out and start again.
10. After you count six weeks from the start of the process, your apple cider vinegar should be ready.
Open the can, have a sniff and a taste. The liquid should smell like regular apple cider vinegar and also taste tangy.
Use a pH strip to test the acidity of your ACV. A ph of between 3.5 and 4.5 is ok.
If you want to make another batch, you can use ‘the mother’, apple scraps, water, and sugar to repeat the process.
Much more than a health drink: Benefits of apple cider vinegar
There, you now know how to make apple cider vinegar at home. What are the benefits of apple cider vinegar and the different ways you can use it?
Use it to clean your home.
The Uses for Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar
Safe Household Cleaner
– To clean drains, pour half a cup of bicarbonate of soda into them and follow with a cup of apple cider vinegar. Let it sit and then pour boiling hot water into them for sparkling clean drains.
– Fill a spray bottle with about a 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar and dilute it with water. Use the solution to wipe down stovetops, countertops, and tabletops.
– Pour apple cider vinegar into the toilet bowl and let it soak overnight. In the morning, scrub your loo, and it will be sparkling clean.
Use it to kill bugs and nourish plants in your garden.
– Spray it on slugs and snails to eliminate them. You can also repel ants by spraying an apple cider vinegar and water solution wherever they love to hide.
If apple cider vinegar is not enough to keep the pests away, try the other natural solutions in this guide as well.
– Mix equal amounts of vinegar with water and spray it all over your pets to act as a flea repellant.
– Use a solution of 5 ounces of apple cider vinegar in ten gallons of water as a liquid fertilizer in your garden. Pour it around the roots, but don’t let it touch the leaves.
A Health Tonic
Apple cider vinegar can improve your health. Use natural homemade apple cider vinegar with ‘the mother’, which contains healthy proteins, antioxidants, friendly bacteria, and enzymes. It can help you;
– Reduce cholesterol
– Accelerate weight loss, and
– Lower blood sugar levels
Due to its high content of acetic acid, apple cider vinegar makes a great disinfectant. You can use it in the following ways.
– Put a few drops of it in lice treatments. It works well when mixed with olive oil and tree tea oil.
– You can also soak your feet in a solution of apple cider vinegar and warm water to clear nail fungus. Fifteen minutes of soaking each day should do the trick.
– A few drops of apple cider vinegar mixed with warm water spritzed into the ear canal can clear ear infections.
These are just a few ways you can use apple cider vinegar in the home. There are many more here that you can try.
There is so much you can do with apple cider vinegar. It is worth the effort to make some at home and now you got the recipe, make some today!