Natural Cider Vinegar - for Health.

A good apple cider vinegar has many benefits for human (and animal) health. The particular natural array of acids and minerals helps the body maintain it's own proper acid balance, and helps with mineral metabolism, particularly with calcium usage. A good "tonic" is to take 2 spoonfuls in a glass of water every day, though using it on a more or less daily basis on foods will work as well. It's perfect for oil and vinegar dressings, and enhances the flavor of many things (even desserts, fruit, meats and fish) if a small amount is added when cooking.

• Add a bit of vinegar to fruit gelatin to help hold it firm.
• Excellent replacement for lemon on fried and broiled foods.
• Add a bit to the cooking water to keep cauliflower whiter; potatoes too.
• Add to the water when boiling eggs and the whites don't leak out shell cracks.
• Add a small amount to the cooking water for fluffier rice.

In addition, cider vinegar has many "external" uses. The natural acid levels have a somewhat antiseptic quality, and it promotes good skin health, helping to speed healing of sore chapped skin, and cold vinegar can relieve sunburn. There are also many, many uses around the house for vinegar, though here you might find the cheap commercial brands do as well!

• Sponge sagging cane chairs with 50-50 hot water/vinegar and dry in hot sun
• Remove stains from chrome and glassware and inside teapots/kettles
• Paint adheres better to galvanized metal that's been wiped with vinegar
• Makes an excellent all-purpose cleaner to prevent kitchen items and areas from developing musty, moldy odors, and stop the bacteria that cause them
• Add to pet and farm animals' water to promote good health, shiney coats, and help reduce the odors they normally produce.
• Hornet/wasp stings, if immediately flooded with good, full strength Cider Vinegar, will not swell or cause reactions - have some handy in the summer and get it on right away!

The process involves fermenting the juice (fruit sugars) to a good alcoholic cider, then allowing acetic bacteria to convert the ciders' alcohol to acetic acid (vinegar). Aging then insures the processes take place that balance the naturally present apple acids and minerals, resulting in a richly flavored vinegar, with an acid strength determined by the starting alcohol level - the conversion is about 1% point less, which means that a 6% alcohol cider will yield a 5% acid vinegar.

To start, see our page on Cider Making . It is important to start with a well made, finished hard cider that has no fruit sugars left. The nutrient for the vinegar producing acetic bacteria is alcohol, which is broken down in the presence of oxygen into acetic acid and a small amount of water. Any residual fruit sugar is not converted by the acetic bacteria, and as the acidity increases, any remaining alcohol-producing yeast can't survive to do the job, so there is the risk of winding up with a vinegar that has a level of sugar that can support other contaminating spoilage organisms, and an acid level too low to protect against them. Which is to say, the raw material for vinegar making is alcohol, not sugar.

Once the cider is finished and racked clean, transfer it to a container that can be covered with a cloth to exclude insects, but allow air in. Something like a large pottery crock does fine, covered with muslin. The acetic bacteria work on the surface only, where they can access the alcohol and oxygen at the same time, so the greater the surface area of the container compared to its depth, the better. Make sure the cloth cover is a fine material, well secured, as there will be fruit flies around soon enough.

The acetic bacteria will eventually 'colonize' your cider (they're everywhere, including in your cider, in the air and one the little feet of those pesky fruit flies - along with other contaminates!). If you don't do any more than what's described above, it will take many months, or even years, to achieve a finished batch of vinegar. If you want to speed the process somewhat, the acid level (malic, tannic, acetic, etc) has an influence in that acetic bacteria thrive in an acidic environment. Add some previously made cider vinegar (a well-made, unpasteurized vinegar will likely have 'live' bacteria), and try to use cider made with the higher acid heritage varieties, or earlier ripening types. Also make sure you have the greatest possible exposed surface area, and that the container is kept in a fairly warm area - the bacteria prefer a warm room-temperature environment.

When all the alcohol has been converted (acid testing kits are available at wine making supply shops - the acid % will be 1 point below the alcohol level in the original cider), you can 'harvest' part of that batch and add an equal quantity of new cider for harvesting in the future. The more you take out (and the more fresh hard cider you add), the longer it will take to finish again. If you want a continuous supply, aim for a tank that holds over double your projected use for a year, than each fall start about half that amount of cider fermenting. When the cider is finished, take off the finished vinegar and add in the new cider, which should be converted within a year for the next harvest cycle. This procedure develops a good bacterial colony (the 'mother'), that can more quickly convert the added alcohol.

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