Homebrewed vinegar is much better than store bought.
Why make your vinegar? Store bought vinegars are made from cheap ingredients. Many are made from non-food sources! The white vinegar (for pickles) that you see in the store is often made from cellulose, the grain leftovers of ethanol production, or even from wood alcohol! (No wonder very few people actually like vinegar).
Prep time: About 20 minutes.
Ingredients:
- 1 quart glass canning jar (plus 1 extra quart canning jar to strain the juice into)
- Fresh asparagus
- 1/3 cup raw honey (make sure that it is raw honey)
- Unchlorinated or distilled water (Don’t use tap water or it will interact with the yeast)
- 1/4 tsp yeast. I usually use champagne yeast or a light ale yeast. (do not use bread yeast)
- 1/8 to 1/4 cup starter apple cider vinegar with the Mother, or transfer the Mother from another batch of vinegar
Other supplies:
- A paper insert for a coffee filter basket to put on top.
- pH strips to test acidity
This recipe is adapted from: Homebrewed Vinegar: How to Ferment 60 Delicious Varieties, Including Carrot-Ginger, Beet, Brown Banana, Pineapple, Corncob, Honey, and Apple Cider Vinegar by Kirsten K. Shockey (affiliate link):
Step 1: Cut the woody part off of a bunch of fresh asparagus. (I usually cut about 1/3 off):
Step 2: Blend up the asparagus with unchlorinated water in a Nutribullet, blender, or a juicer.
Step 3: Strain the juice out of the blended asparagus into a separate 1 quart canning jar. (If you used a juicer that only returns juice you don’t need this step):
You may need to press the pulp with a spoon to get out all of the juice. Then dispose of the pulp, feed it to the chickens, or put it in your compost pile.
The result:
Step 4: Make a honey sugar water solution.
Add about 1/3 cup of raw honey and 1/2 cup of water to a pan. Slowly heat, but only until the honey is stirrable and dissolves into the water. This is your honey sugar water for the yeast.
Let it cool slightly, then add to the quart jar with the asparagus juice.
Step 5: Add 1/4 tsp yeast.
I use champagne yeast. I have used ale yeast but I got uneven results. Sometimes it was too strong. (and do not use bread yeast).
Step 6: Add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of starter apple cider vinegar with the Mother, or transfer the Mother from another batch of vinegar. Make sure that the starter vinegar that you use is unpasteurized and contains the Mother.
Step 7: Put a coffee filter on top and store for about a month. This keeps out bugs and fruit flies.
Make sure to label the bottle!
Stir once a day for a week.
Step 8: Test the PH with a PH strip.
Take a little vinegar out with a spoon to test with a PH strip (do not stick the PH strip into the vinegar in the jar). The PH should be less than 4. For best results, it should be 3.5 or less.
The vinegar Mother may look like this:
Step 9: Strain and bottle the vinegar.
I use these cheap glass vinegar bottles from the store. I bought the cheap vinegar and poured it out and reuse the glass bottles.
I also use these flip top bottles for giving vinegar as gifts:
You can now use the vinegar or let it age in a cool, preferably dark, place. Vinegar develops different nuances as it ages.
Enjoy!
Pitfalls:
- If the vinegar develops a white layer on the surface – this is yeast. This is normal. Stir the vinegar or add in slightly more starter vinegar.
- If the mother develops a red spot or mold, then throw the batch out.
- If the vinegar smells like nail polish remover, then you can let it sit longer to see if it resolves, or toss the batch.
- When you first taste the vinegar it may be strong. As long as it doesn’t taste “wrong”, if it is the correct PH then bottle it and store it for a longer period of time. Using honey and asparagus usually makes a mild vinegar.
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