Apple Cider Vinegar from Scraps
Recipe type: DIY from theprairiehomested.com
Ingredients
Apple peelings or cores
Sugar (1 tablespoon per one cup of water used)
Water
Glass jar (a quart is a great place to start, but you can definitely make larger quantities, too.)
Instructions
Fill the glass jar ¾ of the way with the apple peels and cores.
Stir the sugar into the water until it's mostly dissolved, and pour over the apple scraps until they are completely covered. (Leave a few inches of room at the top of the jar.)
Cover loosely (I recommend a coffee filter or fabric scrap secured with a rubber band) and set in a warm, dark place for around two weeks.
You can give it a stir every few days, if you like. If any brownish/greyish scum develops on the top, simply skim it off.
Once two weeks has passed, strain the scraps from the liquid.
At this point, my vinegar usually has a pleasantly sweet apple cider smell, but is still missing that unmistakable tang.
Discard the scraps (or feed them to your chickens!), and set the strained liquid aside for another 2-4 weeks.
You’ll know your apple cider vinegar is complete once it has that unmistakable vinegary smell and taste. If it's not quite there yet, simply allow it to sit a while longer.
Once you are happy with the taste of your vinegar, simply cap and store it as long as you like. It won't go bad.
If a gelatinous blob develops on the top of your vinegar, congratulations! You have created a vinegar "mother". This mother can be use to jump-start future vinegar batches. You can remove it and store it separately, but I usually just allow mine to float around in the vinegar as I store it.
Use your homemade vinegar just like you would storebought vinegar-- for cooking, cleaning and everything in between!
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29 Uses for Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar
Health and Wellness
• Take a tablespoonful daily in eight ounces of water as a preventative against colds and flu. It works, people. Just give it a try. • When battling gastroenteritis, also known as stomach flu, take a tablespoonful in eight ounces of water several times a day. • When battling diarrhea, take a tablespoonful in eight ounces of water several times a day. Don’t argue about it like my husband and kids do – just take it. You will be glad you did! • Treat sunburn by soaking a washcloth in undiluted vinegar and applying directly to the burned area of skin. Let the dampened cloth lie on the skin for 5-10 minutes. You will smell like a salad but your sunburn won’t hurt! • Taking vinegar in the same dosage as for flu can help reduce joint pain and is safer than taking anti-inflammatory medicines.
Household
• Clean and deodorize after pet accidents by spraying the carpet with 50 percent vinegar to 50 percent water. First blot up any liquid, then soak carpet with vinegar water. After five minutes, blot the area thoroughly and allow to dry. Once dry, there should be no odor. • Clean and deodorize after the toddler’s potty training accidents, following the same process as cleaning pet accidents. Pets and toddlers do have some interesting similarities! • Use vinegar and water to clean glass and mirrors in a one part of vinegar to eight parts of water ratio. • Adding 1/2 cup of vinegar to the last rinse cycle of your wash load will help to soften clothes and control static cling. • Adding vinegar to the last rinse cycle also helps to reduce lint build up on clothes and keeps pet hair from sticking to clothes. We all love our pets but no one wants to wear the evidence of having pets on their clothing. • Vinegar can aid in removing stubborn stains such as coffee and tea by soaking the stain in a solution of 1/3 cup vinegar to 2/3 cup of water. After soaking hang items out in sun until dry. • Full strength vinegar can remove stubborn mildew stains from clothing. • Use a mixture of 50 percent vinegar to 50 percent water as a stain treatment before washing any items that are stained. Keep this near the washer in a spray bottle. Costs way less than name brand stain removers and contains no petro-chemicals.
Beauty Treatments
• Apple cider vinegar is a great hair conditioner. Mix with water in a 1 to 1 ratio in an old shampoo or conditioner bottle. Rinse through hair and allow to sit for a couple minutes, then rinse. • Apple cider vinegar rinsed through hair also detangles and reduces frizziness. • Apple cider vinegar rinsed through hair helps control dry itchy scalps due to the anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties of the vinegar. • ACV can be used as a face wash. Mix 1 tablespoonful of vinegar to a cup of water and apply to facial skin using a cotton ball. Apple cider vinegar-water is naturally anti-bacterial and deep cleans pores. Follow with a moisturizer suited to your skin type.
Dog Treatments
• Apple cider vinegar can help restore proper pH to your dog’s system. If your dog is itchy, scratches constantly, is losing fur, or stinky, adding a teaspoon of ACV twice a day to his or her food can help relieve the misery. You can increase up to a tablespoonful a day if you are not seeing results at a lower dosage. • Apple cider vinegar is also useful for preventing ear infections in dogs. Apply a few drops inside your dog’s ears following a bath. • Spraying your dog after a bath with a 50/50 vinegar-water mixture and allowing to air dry can help kill fleas, ticks, and ringworm. • Adding 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to your dog’s drinking water can help reduce or eliminate the tear stains that light-colored pets often get by their eyes. • Apple cider vinegar added to a dog’s water can help to eliminate urinary problems.
Cat Treatments
• Apple cider vinegar used in a 50/50 vinegar-water mixture can be applied to cats with pink eye to clear the infection. • Apple cider vinegar in a 50/50 vinegar-water water mixture can be wiped on a cat’s paws and applied to its neck to combat the urinary tract infections that cats seem to be prone to having. Adding ACV to a cat’s water can treat the UTI, but cats can be finicky about the way their food and water taste and they may avoid drinking the water. Applying the mixture to the paws makes them ingest it as they clean their paws. Do this twice a day for best results.
Horse Treatments
• ACV can be used to treat horses who have urinary tract stones by adding 1/2 – 1 cup of vinegar to 6 gallons of water. • Treat hoof rot by soaking your horse’s hooves in apple cider vinegar two to three times a day. • Treat your horse’s dry skin and dandruff by adding up to 1/2 cup ACV to your horse’s feed daily. • Adding apple cider vinegar to your horse’s feed and water can help combat fly problems. • ACV is effective in relieving painful joints in horses. Add up to 1/2 cup to your horse’s feed daily.
As with any information you read, it is your responsibility to do your research and evaluate the use of apple cider vinegar for yourself, your household, and your pets. I do not claim to be a medical professional or a veterinarian, nor do I play one on television, but I can tell you that I have used apple cider vinegar at home for myself, my family, and my pets with great success for the past twenty years at least.
Because my family and I survive and actually thrive on a tight budget, I have made it my mission to find ways to run my home as inexpensively as I can, while maintaining or improving our quality of life. I also have a philosophy of thinking for the long term as my husband and I grow older, to find ways of keeping our spending low as our income decreases. Using natural products such as ACV has been a boon to our health and our budget, and I hope you will find similar results for yourself
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