Apple Cider Vinegar--from tree to recipe

A print and save document from the editors of www.greatgrandmother.org about how to make apple cider vinegar, how to store it, its health benefits, and how to use it in when preparing meals.

Vinegar is alcohol's fate, according to famed culinary chemistry expert Harold McGee. The process of something becoming a vinegar is when bacteria, usually found in the air we breathe, uses oxygen to metabolize alchohol, and converts it to acetic acid. Its the process of fermentation that is written about by such health food advocates as Sally Fallon and Sandor Ellix Katz.

Apple vinegar is a wonderful kitchen condiment, health drink, and cooking partner. These naturally fermented vinegars are different than their super market cousins that are pasteurized liquids with additives resembling the taste of vinegar. What I'm talking about here is an organic, naturally fermented, loaded with beneficial microbes-style vinegar. One that comes from apples, in this particular case. (You can make vinegar from almost anything containing sugar or starch, such as fruits, grains, and roots.)

When I speak of apple cider, I speak of a liquid that is raw, unpasteurized, and has a bright flavor with an undertone of crisp apples and a look that is slightly cloudy--the unfiltered, unsweetened, non-alcoholic drink. The drink differs from cider (in many parts of the world, known as an alcoholic drink) which is the freshly pressed liquid from the season's apples. Another familiar apple drink is apple juice, which is pasteurized, filtered, and often sweetened. But for our purposes, the vinegar I speak of comes from a raw cider-based liquid that goes through a an alcohol (hard cider) stage and ends up as a vinegar. The same general process is true of red wine or champagne vinegar. They start out as grape juice, become a wine or sparkling wine, and then, with the right temperature, aeration, and infusion of beneficial microbes and yeast, become wine vinegar.

Health benefits. There are many health benefits to consuming naturally fermented vinegars. Folk medicine from many cultures prescribe a gulp a day of unfiltered (meaning it has the mother included) apple cider vinegar. Hippocrates, the Greek physician, was known to have prescribed vinegar as a cure or remedy for ailments.

With a pH of 2.40 and 3.40, traditional, unpasteurized, unfiltered apple cider vinegar contains as many as fifty different nutrients, amino acids, and trace elements which are said to cure acne, sinus infections, high cholesterol, influenza, chronic fatigue, gout, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, high blood pressure, and sore throat. And many great grandmothers and grandmothers often applied vinegar on their grandchildrens' scortched summer skin as a pain reliever.

Sandor Katz, in his book Wild Fermentation, writes that fermented foods are not only loaded with beneficial nutrients, but also creates new nutrients as they go through their lifecycles. These new nutrients include folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and biotin. He notes that ferments have also been credited with creating vitamin B12, otherwise absent from plant food sources.

Dianne Onstad, in her book Whole Foods Companion, notes that the amino acids in apple cider vinegar counter the effect of lactic acid build up in the blood and help prevent the formation of toxic fat peroxides, which contribute to aging, fatigue, irritability, and cholesterol formation on the blood vessel walls. Apple cider vinegar is rich in potassium, an anti-aging nutrient that is known to flush out acid crystals that accumulate in the joints and in the bursa (that space between tendons and bones). Additionally, a daily dose of apple cider vinegar (2 tablespoons) and local raw honey will reduce the swelling (and therefore pain) of arthritis and rheumatism. (You can drink the cider vinegar raw, but after a while you might end up removing some of the enamel from your teeth. So, adding honey and water are popular ways to reduce harming your teeth.)

The malic acid content of pure apple cider vinegar stimulates the digestive process and adds to the probiotic health of our guts. Inside our guts is where our digestion occurs and where we develop much of our immunity. It stands to reason that if our guts are functioning well, then we absorb more nutrients and micronutrients, and our immune systems stay in better shape. And since today's fruits and vegetables contain far fewer micornutrients that fruits and vegetables did fifty years ago (that's a whole other topic), we can use all the help we can get to absorb and make bioavailable the limited number of nutrients in our foods.

Making vinegar. I won't get into the sophisicated traditions, history, or background of the Oleans Process--the simplest and oldest method of perfecting vinegar production dating back to the Middle Ages in the French City of Orleans--but I will make this step-by-step process as easy to understand as possible...because it is, indeed, very simple.

First, you need to understand that the intact acetic acid molecule, and the acid dissociated into its acetate and hyrdogen ions are volatile and detectable by the....okay, okay, just kidding. None of that is important to you or me.

1. It takes three ingredients to make vinegar: an alcoholic liquid, like hard apple cider; oxygen; and a friendly bacteria from the Acetobacter or Gluconobacter family. Easy, right?

2. Get some freshly pressed apple cider. I like to put mine into sterilized quart jars, like I use in canning my tomato sauce. To begin making it into a hard cider, I close it with a plastic lid that you can purchase for the quart jars. As the cider becomes alcoholic, it gives off gas. So, I open the jars each day, for a second or two, to let the gas escape. Then, I place the jars out of the way in some nicely warmed room.

3. After a couple weeks of doing this, I test to see if the cider had turned to a hard state--that is, with alcohol. You can pretty much taste this. If you have a way of testing the alcohol content, it should be at least 5%. You will also notice a slight fizzyness when you sip it, like a carbonated beverage. It might have a strong, musty nose as well. Your pressed cider is becoming a fermented dry cider.

4. After a couple of weeks, you can remove the hard cap and replace it with a cover of cheesecloth secured by a rubber band, to prevent fruit flies from entering. After a day or two exposed to the room's natural oxygen, I add a couple tablespoons of well-shaken organic apple cider vinegar, so I make sure that the mother--that leftover (detritus) stuff from the bacterial activity--is incorporated into the young vinegar. (You can actually skip the addition of the mother and just let the natural yeast found in the air of your kitchen do the trick, but I like the extra security of giving the young vinegar a boost to start its life with!)

5. After this stage, I move the quart jars to a dark room that is between 65F and 70F--a room that is comfortable for me will be comfortable for the yeast to grow. You will start to smell a sweet, yet slightly musty fragrance, with a bit of tangy taste. It'll start tasting remotely like vinegar after a week or so. And soon thereafter, you might notice the gel-like mother floating on top. This is all good.

6. Continue to keep the jars out of the light. Some folks paint them black (on the outside!) to reduce light from entering. If you still want to be safe, you can add a bit more commercial organic vinegar to the mix. I find that this is not necessary at this stage, although I have had a couple of batches that have needed a boost.

7. As you taste your concoction, you will being to taste the full vibrant vinegar on your tongue. The mother will be in full force. It's a mat of cellulose that is alive because of the environment and oxygen. From a biochemical perspective, you have just witnessed a sugar changing to alcohol that changed into acetic acid. If left open forever, it would end up transforming to simple carbon dioxide and water.

8. After you have tasted the true vinegar taste, remove the cheesecloth and recap the bottles. You can stir it if you wish. Keep in a dark pantry or closet for six month to mellow. Mellowing will make it smoother., not less acidic.

Culinary uses. Besides the healthful consumption of fresh, organic apple cider vinegar, there are many culinary uses such as deglazing a pan after you fry a pork chop or simmering apples and onions to make a simple yet delicious pan gravy for chicken. Many recipe books contain ideas on how to use apple cider vinegar and when you compare your homemade version to the junk you buy at the grocery store, you will find that you not only paid much less for your homemade product, but the flavor and aroma when reduced is fantastic.