This is one of those ‘no cost’ recipes made from things that other people normally throw away. When I made applesauce, I also started making this vinegar at the same time, with all of the fruit trimmings, cores, and cut out bruises. I fermented them in jars for awhile, strained out the fruit scraps, and let the vinegar ferment longer. The result? An amazingly fragrant and abundant fruit vinegar for almost no cost. Waste not, want not!
Tips for making Fruit Vinegar
- Chopping up your fruit helps them ferment quicker, but make sure the pieces are big enough to strain out easily later (no puree).
- You could use whey to jump start this fermentation, but I don’t since I always have such a large quantity to do at one time. If you want to, use 2 Tablespoons per quart.
- If you choose to use honey instead of Rapadura, the ferment will take a bit longer but it will still work.
Pineapple or Apple or other Fruit Scrap Vinegar
Rating: 4 forks (key) They all eat it with realizing it 
Difficulty:
Easy and inexpensive!
Page in NT: 156
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- skin and core from 1 pineapple
- for pineapple vinegar only: 2 teaspoons dried oregano & 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
–OR– for apple scrap vinegar
- apple or pear cores, trimmings and peels (bruised or overripe fruit ok, except throw out any pieces with mold on it)
To make sugar water:
- 1/4 cup Rapadura sugar (or honey)
- 1 quart filtered warm water
Preparation:
Prepare the sugar water for the amount of fruit scraps that you have with the ratio of 1 quart water to 1/4 sugar. Make sure all sugar is completely dissolved. Fill jars with coarsely chopped up fruit scraps about half full, then pour in the sugar water solution. For pineapple vinegar, add the additional spices and stir in. Cover with a towel or cheesecloth and let ferment at room temperature. Stir once/day if you can.
You will notice the liquid darken after about a week. At that point, strain out the fruit scraps and discard or compost them. Ferment the vinegar for 2 to 3 weeks longer, stirring it periodically.
Photo courtesy of dixieroadrash on Flickr
There are affiliate links in this post. I only include these links for products and services that I use myself and work hard to research and try out everything before publishing to my readers. If you have any comments about the links in any post please bring them to my attention at kim@theNourishingCook.com.
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
This is such a great idea! After reading your post, I made three jars this morning. I can’t believe making vinegar is this easy! It will be some weeks, but I’ll let you know how my first-ever-batch came out
Kim, after you told me about this over the weekend I’ve just been waiting for this post! I have two huge bowls of apple scraps sitting in my kitchen. Some from Saturday, some from Sunday. Although they’ve been sitting out a day or so, do you suppose they’re still okay to use? They’re pretty brown but not moldy or anything! I’m guessing yes.
If so I am going to start this today! How long will it keep once finished?
Kate… they will be totally fine even though the scraps are brown. As to how long it lasts… well I still have some from one year ago and it’s fine… I would say vinegar lasts pretty much forever if stored properly in a covered jar.
One note I forgot to mention… if you see a gelatinous scum on top (not mold)… that’s the vinegar mother so don’t throw it out! You can jump start more vinegar with that or just leave it in your original vinegar.
Elizabeth… yes please let us know how it turned out! I like to use mine in salad dressing and for everyday cooking, even cleaning.
Yeah! I’ve heard about the mother of vinegar, and I’m used to “mothers” since I constantly have 5 gallons of kombucha in my kitchen.
I need to go start this right now!!
brilliant. i’ve made the pineapple vin before from NT. must try!
I’m doing this right now thanks to this blog post! But a couple of days after starting it I had the crazy idea of throwing one of my kombucha scobys into the mix. Sometimes I let my kombucha go to long and it turns to vinegar anyway. So I figured the scoby couldn’t hurt. What do you think?
Tara… hmmm not sure but sounds like something I would do too! haha. I do know that the kombucha scoby needs the sugars to feed on, so I’m not sure if the vinegar would have enough sugars for it to keep it going. But on the other hand, it could ‘jump start’ it and you could be onto an idea on how to make vinegar in just a few days! lol. Let us know how it turns out!!
I can’t wait to try this – along with my homemade vanilla extract it will be a great gift!
I was so excited to see this post as I had a pineapple in my kitchen waiting to be carved. So I went ahead and followed your instructions but I found that the scraps from one pineapple filled a whole 2-quart jar and I noticed the instructions said to put the fruit scraps to half fill the jar. Does it really matter or should you just use as much as you have?
Also (and this is what made me dump it and I will have to try another time) it seemed to attract ALL the fruit flies in the neighbourhood. Seriously! Since it was covered with a cloth and not closed with a lid they could all smell it and came running (flying) my way. Any tips on this? I have nowhere to put it that is airtight and room temp so the little buggers won’t swarm. So, sadly I’ve dumped it in my compost and will try again later. I’m hoping that maybe in the winter when I don’t have so much other fresh produce in my kitchen I can do it without an infestation. Again, and suggestions are more than welcome.
Liz
Hi Liz… yeah, been there! I would suggest doing the vinegar in the garage or another outside area if you have it available, at least for now, since you have a lot of produce at this time. If it’s too cold it could form mold, which isn’t good. Or try putting the jar in a sealed cupboard… try and try again is what I always say!
that last line was supposed to say “any suggestions” ;p
Just last night, I cut up apples for a batch of apple butter. I generaly don’t get my fruit scraps out to the compost pile on the same day but my compost bucket was full so took it all out to the pile. Then this morning, I found these instructions. I guess I’m going to have to make more apple butter so I can give this a try.
)
Got mine going! The sucanat (that’s the same as Rapadura, right?) makes the liquid so dark already, I’m not sure I’ll knw when to strain the fruit. Also, do you use this just like ACV? Linked to you today!
Katie
Katie… thanks for the link! Yes I use this just like ACV… and the rapadura will make it darker, but it works out fine. Just strain the fruit after 5 days or so…
I’ve got my first batch going. Kinda nervous! But kind of excited! I stuck it up in the cupboard from recommendations since I have fruit flies around right now too.
I have had mine brewing for a few days now (about 5). I used honey, so I know you said it would take a bit longer. Will it still turn brown? It is starting to smell like vinegar…
Depending on the honey you used, it may not darken as much as if you used Rapadura, but it should definitely darken a little. Go with your nose though! If it’s started to smell like vinegar you are on the right track.
ok…my results…finally! My batch came out good, but a bit weak. I think I used too much water. I can no longer remember the apple scraps to water ratio that I used- but basically I just made sure the scraps were covered with water. It’s too weak for salads, but I recently read this-
http://www.naturalnews.com/030236_apple_cider_vinegar_health.html
-and so I’m drinking the ACV as stated in the article. It won’t go to waste and I’ll make it again once I finish the bottle.
Elizabeth… thanks so much for posting your results! One way to get your vinegar to be stronger is to leave it out even longer, covered with just cheesecloth or a paper towel. It will gradually get stronger and water vapor will escape through the towel to help the process along. Weak vinegar is great for drinking though, great idea!
So after straining out the fruit, do the jars need to be sealed or kept covered with a cloth or the like? I’m about to start the second ferment and need to know!
Thanks!
Hi Trevor… you’ll want to leave some cheesecloth with a rubber band over it for awhile until it gets a bit stronger and ferments a bit more. Then taste it and if you like the taste (if it’s acidic enough) then seal it up. Or use it and cover it with cheesecloth for it to keep fermenting…
Hey Kim,
Thanks for the idea of making your own ACV, as buying it was getting expensive, esp when used for cleaning (used to use white vinegar, but my daughter is reactive to corn). It’s been fermenting for 5 weeks under cheesecloth and there’s green powdery mold spotted on top of the mother. Is it okay to carefully remove the “cover” of mother and mold and still use the ACV, or should I chuck and start over? Why did the mold happen?
2 questions:
a) can i freeze apple cores until i accumulate enough for a 1/2 jar, or will freezing kill the starter bacteria needed to get it going? (i’m single, and usually eat about 1 apple per day raw and unpeeled. don’t make any applesauce or other batched fruit things, so getting lots of fruit scraps at the same time just doesn’t happen for me. but accumulating over a week or two, and then starting a batch, would fit my lifestyle quite easily.)
b) do i need to remove apple seeds or not? (you don’t mention it, so i assume not, but just thought i’d check while i’m here.)
thanks for your site. i’ve just discovered it. got some sauerkraut started just a few hours ago. i’ll probably be starting either ginger carrots of pickled beets next week after hitting the farmer’s market.
–sgl
Thanks for this! So, no one responded to the comment that sucanat is the same as Rapadura… it’s NOT, right? It would be a real budget saver for me if it was!
It is. I believe Katie @ Kitchenstewardship wrote a post on it, too.
Would this work with a bunch of banana peels? I’m about to have a lot of them, so it’d be great if it would!
)
)
Also, this will work for cleaning, right? And in the dishwasher, laundry, etc? I was thinking about using it for my hair as well, since we use the no poo method. We can’t do corn and so have stopped using white vinegar, but that was what I always cleaned with. It’d be great to have something I could make basically for free that’s also safe for us!
Thanks so much for posting this!!
We have a number of apple trees dotted around the farm hedges. Unfortunately, most of the varieties are not that tasty and don’t store well. So we always have surplus after the very little freezing and drying I do with them. Can I just use whole, chopped up apples for this?
I tried this in October and it failed but I tried it again and it worked! It’s so exciting. That mother is kind of weird. Thanks for the recipe and instructions.
I’m wondering about the alcohol content of the vinegar. I’m Muslim, and foods with a high alcoholic content are not allowed, but vinegar is considered (in Islam) to be a very healthy and beneficial food. I’m still kind of iffy on what and how exactly I can ferment without running into problems
I don’t usually comment on blogs, but Summer, I saw your comment and had to jump in. There are two processes in the process of making vinegar; one process turns sugar into alcohol, and the other turns alcohol into acetic acid (the part that makes vinegar “vinegary”). This recipe is a very old method. Modern industry makes vinegar in two separate processes to control it, but the “traditional” methods, like this, use yeast and bacteria present on the surface of foods to accomplish the same thing. In short, you can’t have vinegar without alcohol, but by the time you taste it and use it, all the alcohol has been transformed into acetic acid. Because there is little-to-no ethanol left, it should be fine according to Islam, but if you’re still worried, you should check with your local imam.
Could you do this with grapes?
I have tried this a few times now, but every time I do, the whole lot goes mouldy, no matter how much I sterilise everything – what could I be doing wrong???
We pressed cider yesterday so today I’m making vinegar! Thanks so much for the guidance, I was a little lost.
Hi…I was wondering if rotten apples (not moldy) but very mushy and brown, they are left over apples from my csa that have sitting in my garage being neglected…anyway …if they were okay to use. I saw you said bruised and overripe but not moldy..these are def brown and extremely overripe…? Im so excited not all of my apples will go to waste..YEA
I say go for it! What do you have to lose except a bit of time cutting things up? Cut off any REALLY bad parts. Can you let us know if it works for you? I am super curious now.. thanks!
hi kim…well it was going great..smelling like vinegar and then the one (I had two ball jars going) turned to mold at the top…can I still use it?
Kim~ Is rapadura the same as sucanat? I can not find rapadura where I live. Will this recipe work with sucanat? I need this clarification. Thank you.
I think sucanat is slightly more processed than rapadura. But it would definitely work for this recipe. I think pretty much any natural sweetener would work… Let us know how it goes!
Okay, so I’m trying this for the first time with apple scraps. I just checked mine after 5 days and the fruit on the top has mold on it. Should I throw it all out? Does this mean the kitchen is too cold? We keep the house around 65 F. I used honey, though probably not enough. The liquid is pale and cloudy.
Thanks!
Deb recently posted..Girl in Pink, Batman, Evil Queen and a Storm House
Oh no! I just came to check out the. Immense to see what I need to do if it molds and it looks like a few other people have had this problem but no answer. Darn.
Can you use some Bragg’s ACV to help jump start this? Would that be in addition to the sugar water? I would think so. You need the sugar to feed the bugs. And I, too, would like to know about the mold questions/answers…
I am working on a bunch of apples right now (applesauce, apple butter, etc., you know the routine) and have a lot of skins, cores, etc that I’m just tossing to the chickens. Is a gallon jar too big? How much fruit scraps to sugar water? Just cover the fruit or clear to the top of the jar? Thanks!