Six organic pineapples have travelled long miles, no longer smell sweet, have soft brown spots, and are not going to sell at the shop where I sometimes work. I bring them home with the idea that i’ll make a wild-crafted vinegar for all of us who work there, to play with in our cooking – a fun and exotic ingredient.
Wild “scrap vinegars” are inspiring and incredibly easy. I’d always read that one needs to begin with a “mother,” those strange, gelatinous “creatures” that float and grow in vinegar– amalgamations of yeasts and bacteria that float and sink like jellyfish… My understanding now is that mothers represent a visible home for acetic acid to culture, but that actually you don’t NEED one (human beings a different story.) Through history we haven’t always invited acetic acid fermentation as much as we’ve sought to avoid it!
Basically, to make vinegar, and it is SO basic– you get fruit, or fruit scraps, raw or cooked– you place in water, add some sugar, make sure there is air, and wait. Stir when you walk to discourage baddies and to encourage oxygenation, which acetic acid bacteria like. This stage is represented by the photograph on the left, above. First your concoction turns a little alcoholic, then you wait some more. Then your “wine” begins to sour, vinegar-sour. It’s THIS easy. Keep stirring, to keep it airy and so that films of yeast don’t develop, nor moulds on any bits of solid that pop up out of the liquid. At some point, after it’s begun to sour, you strain and then bottle, as in the photo on the right, and then as time marches forth, your vinegar gets ever more vinegary, until eventually it reaches its highest acid level.
(These kind of vinegars are different from fruit vinegars in which the fruit is boiled in sugar then strained and steeped in a pre-made vinegar. These sweet vinegars – you might be familiar with blackberry vinegar made this way– are nice but to my mind too sweet, too boutique, and acutally less useful in a daily way. |And they are closer to “shrubs” and certain varieties of old-fashioned cordials that are really nice to drink mixed with water or bubbly-water and quite refreshing in hot weather. In that context the vinegar would have been a preservative for the sweetened fruit mixture.)
Last Thanksgiving (a festival of gratitude I celebrate with my England-born children) I saved the peels from all the apples that went into pies, and made a load of scrap vinegar. I also experimented with cooked scraps, fermenting the skins, seeds and cores that didn’t make it through the food mill of the apple sauce I simmered and jarred. And I bottled a similar batch made with the tough skins and cores of quinces. These vinegars have all been lovely in salad dressings, to brighten sauces and stews, in marinades, and sometimes just to drink in water for a little refreshment and alkalising… The pineapple vinegar was a wonderful brightening lemon-substitute in some guacamole I made…
And more: my husband brought home from a supermarket, a bag of reduced-for-clearance pears– they weren’t ripe and a month later, forgotten, they were still not ripe. I cut off a few bad bits and… chopped into water and sugar they went. This is the vinegar that now, on my kitchen counter, seems to be clouding with forms that I’m hoping, fingers crossed, are early “mother” formations. Annother, rhubarb: I’d chopped and simmered and intended to make a rather labour-intensive cordial for a friend. On that day, I was overcome by a migraine, lay down in the dark, allowing that huge pot to languish sadly. As it did the next day, and the next, until finally I put it in the fridge and … and….. and….. But all was not lost, and I’ve now several large bottles of Rhubarb Wild-Vinegar, a brightener that was the amazing secret ingredient in a spicy chickpea curry. Also: Plum Honey Vinegar, Blackberry Apple, and now, as I edit, I’m setting myself the experiment of making a winter-squash flavoured condiment with the pulp that surrounds the seeds I intend to roast.
Warning: we are advised NOT to make long-term preserves (chutneys say) with vinegar in which the acid level is not measured to be sufficient to counteract the growth of botulism spores– at least I’ve read this on the internet. (Though I am not convinced, in the case of many jarred chutneys, that sugar is not the main preservation agent and vinegar there to counteract the sweetness for a savour condiment– but what do I know?)
One reads about verjuice / verjus in historical European recipes. It’s a kind of sour juice made from unripened grapes and sometimes, crabapples. I’m sure there were infinite local and individual varieties. I’ve come to see my “scrap vinegars” — through the stages of a little sour through to the final, acidic vinegar — as a really interesting culinary twist on the continuum of juice-wine-vinegar and a citrus / sour element of modern global cooking styles. My vinegars allow me an amazing range and subtlety of flavours that are truly local and extremely economical, made as they are from what would otherwise be thrown out or composted.
Making scrap vinegar is addictive and fun. Rotting kiwis? Tried it– flavour not so nice though, and it became a great home-made cleanser to keep by the kitchen sink, deglazing grease and burn effectively from dinner pans. I’ve also made an effective cleaning product just fermenting peels and green off-cuts from potatoes– added sugar, air, time and…. voila, something very cheap and useful– definitely effective up-cycling.
[Postscript: Don’t prematurely bottle and cap– until all the sugar is finished fermenting, even these liquids need air. I just had a messy frothy soda-fizzzzzzzzzy experience that erupted all over my clean outfit. And that’s better than a glass explosion. Just remember: Vinegar wants air, so keep yours exposed while they are “maturing”. 🙂 ]
I am inspired to try fruit-scrap vinegar again! I tried pineapple once and it got all yeasty. I think quince vinegar sounds lovely and I always want to buy quinces at the market but never know what to do with them. Now I have a plan! Thanks, Annie!
[…] I saved the apple peelings and cores, added honey, and have a new, small batch of wild apple vinegar on the […]
Hi Annie – great experimentation but are there any quantities of say sugar to fruit to water?
Thanks for asking. Because I use what’s available, and quantities would be about relative proportion, I haven’t come to a formula. But any amount, even a tablespoon, of sugar would work– and given the natural sugars in fruit, you’d probably get fermentation even without adding any. Last week I made an apple tart, and with those peels and cores (if you can imagine what they’d look like from five apples) I added maybe a tablespoon of honey? Sorry I can’ be specific…. You don’t need much, but might get a faster ferment with more.
Hello, months later, I’m thinking— imagine your original liquid is sweet as juice or wine, it’s that much. But it works! I’ve never failed! Acetic Acid Fermentation wants to happen at that level of sweetness.
[…] strained out the hips, added a little wild Blackberry Apple Vinegar (I’d read Jamie Oliver somewhere adding a dash of balsamic vinegar to his rhubarb!) to dilute […]
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[…] a batch of black tea! (I decided to acidify this a little, at the outset, with a Blackberry Apple Scrap Vinegar – taking heed that one can discourage moulds this […]
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[…] a mouli to remove skin and seeds. Mixed this with water and some sugar to see what a tomato scrap vinegar would be like. Hmmmmm. Couldn’t resist throwing in half an overripe nectarine. […]
[…] Carrot Chutney (in easy-to-eyeball volume measurements) 4 generous cups stoned plums (make a scrap vinegar! See if you can plant them afterwards!) 5 chopped carrots A cup of raisins or sultanas as respect […]
I’m finally trying this today. Approximately how long does the ferment take to turn to vinegar? A couple of weeks? Thank you for this wonderful tutorial!
Depending on temperature, sugar level, how much you stir, etc, I would say within a few days the mixture turns alcoholic, then a few days after that, with plenty of oxygen, the alcohol turns vinegary. But from then on it can totally vary. One thing, do be wary of prematurely bottling when there’s still bubbles happening, because what you think might be static vinegar may become explosive, even months later I sometimes “burp” the jars. Interestingly, I offered some “vinegar” to an old-time friend and he said that’s what he would call [hard] “cider”. Am making some scrap vinegars at the mo with the sieve residue from greengage jam and damson jam– sure to both be lovely vinegars. Looking forward to hearing about your adventures.
Thank you for all the tips. I started a large jar with apple peels and cores a couple of days ago and the microbes have already begun to work their magic. It’s quite bubbly and already smelling a bit fermented. I just have a cloth on the top for now but after I put a lid on it, I will be sure to burp it often. Your sieve residue sounds brilliant. You don’t waste a thing!
[…] vinegar lately (I’ll write a post on that eventually) after learning how from the awesome Kitchen-Counter-Culture blog. Annie makes all sorts of scrap vinegars, including one made from potato peels, which she […]
As I have been peeling fruit all day, I had the idea of ‘scrap vinegar’ in the back of my mind, but never having done it, didn’t have the time to look it up. Now I am regretting all those composted titbits. Oh well, not too late to start though. Thanks for giving me the link to so much good information.
[…] I stumbled upon the wonderful blog, Kitchen-Counter-Culture. Finally! I found instructions for making scrap vinegar. I’ve made it a few times now and am thrilled with the results. It takes very little […]
[…] a handful of dried currants hunk of ginger, shredded 5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced 1/2 cup of Pear Scrap Vinegar (Pineapple Scrap Vinegar would have been great!), boiled with quarter cup sugar (this seemed like […]
[…] actually since that post in June, 7 months ago. I’ve been feeling very positive that all my scrap vinegars now generate their own “mothers,” developed as they were without any original visible […]
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[…] very tart version: 1 preserved lemons, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup my apple scrap vinegar. Less tart, 1/4 to 1/2 a preserved lemon, or an even smaller […]
[…] ferment a bunch, add others to a kimchi, and do a simple vinegar pickle with still more. I used my apple scrap vinegar which is lovely for a short preservation or souring but so inclined to developing Kahm Yeast on the […]
[…] in one version sweet and in another lightly fermenting, and knowing how utterly easy it is to make scrap vinegar, I wanted to do something with the pears in a similar vein. Pulpy and thick would mean nectar, […]
[…] commemorate Green Goddess Dressing. All I did was thin the dip with some apple cider vinegar (my scrap apple vinegar is nicely sweet for this purpose. What you get is a truly wonderful and flexible dressing that […]
[…] you have there to work with? Take your hard fruit and prepare it. If apples, maybe peel and core (scrap vinegar time!)– sweeten as you wish, season as you wish (cinnamon a classic of course) and maybe […]
[…] you think, “What a waste to throw all that out.” Yet you realise you have so much Scrap Vinegar in your stock. So you think about Kvass as you are coming to understand it, so inspired by Rebecca […]
[…] to tell you how it turns out! Meanwhile if you’re interested in doing it yourself, check out: this and this. Those were the resources that I used. For the actual apples, I ended up cooking them with […]
[…] como ficou! Entretanto, se estiverem interessados em fazer o vinagre, dêem uma vista de olhos neste e neste site. Esses sites guiaram-me para a melhor forma de […]
Can coconut sugar be used in the scrap vinegar recipe?
i don’t see why not? Give it a try! )