This morning is 9F (minus 12 C). Clear and cruely cold. All the animals are fed and watered and I have opened all the barn doors as the sun is shining. A juxtapostition of the senses that I could not hang in a gallery. It is a stunning, fiercely cold, bright and sunny day. But no wind – no wind is good.
I took my hammer with me today to break the ice and as we rushed about doing the chores my face burning with freeze, I kept saying to the animals ‘ The cold is only relative, after minus 10 it is just more cold not colder.’ They weren’t even cold. Just hungry.
No pausing to watch the golden sunrise filter through the cracks in the barn this morning.
Back inside and all is well now. Here is a tip to remember on these below freezing mornings. If your hand is wet from the dish cloth and you have to quickly pop outside to grab a piece of wood for the fire, DO NOT grab the metal door handle with your wet hand on the way back in. Your hand will stick to the metal door handle. I hate that and I NEVER LEARN!
OK. Yesterday we bottled appler cider vinegar. This is How to Make Raw Apple Cider whilst pretending that this is what you wanted to make all along.
Take the bottles of home made apple cider (before we switched to pear cider) and put them in the basement then forget about them for a year. Then take the top off one, cover with a cloth and forget about it again for another year.
Then rediscover it when searching for a bottle of apple cider in the basement. As you remember that the apple cider was so horrible that you left a jar open just in case it decided to turn itself into vinegar. It being half way there already.
And it had turned into vinegar. So strain it through a coffee filter, bottle it and write on the bottle with a black sharpie in a casual and trendy manner as though this had been the plan all along. 
If you want to know how to make really GOOD apple cider vinegar on purpose, go and visit Ms Misks. Hers looks sharp and delicate. Her vinegar is so educated it keeps a diary.
Now I am going to fry up a couple of those eggs I collected this morning. The chooks are laying again did I tell you? My old people are pleased. They miss their good eggs.
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
84 responses to “How to make Raw Apple Cider Vinegar whilst pretending that this is what you wanted to make all along!”
LOL! I think it’s pretty darn cool that you made apple cider vinegar by accident! And burr that’s cold. It’s cold here too…happy I don’t have to go out in it today.
It will warm up later today they say, I hope THEY are right!! c
The health gurus, including Dr. Oz, say that drinking a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water each day will do wonders for you. I don’t know exactly what wonders it does, but wonders cannot always be explained.
Ronnie
I feed apple cider vinegar and garlic and molasses to my animals three times a week. The vinegar keeps parasites at bay. It has been proven to be good for diabetics. Just in case it is as good as they say (and it has to be unpasteurised to be that good) I always use it for the salad dressings, that way we get a little every day.. c
Well it certainly looks good 😉
It does have a lovely deep colour and they say that the sediment at the bottom is from the presence of a Mother. Or starter. Which is developed from the air sometimes. Though you can buy a Mother. I might look into this and turn the rest of the apple cider into vinegar on purpose! c
Thanks for the knock-back … no … sling-back? Ping-back? Ping-pong? Thanks for the mention! Yeah, got there in the end, eh? I had to toss my most recent brew of ‘this-sure-ain’t-apple-tasting’ cider vinegar. It actually turned a greenish-grey colour. I poured it down the drain before my hubby could consider the word homicide. 😉
Oh dear. But that was the one you thought was dubious? Your first one is still good?. I need to pop over and see about your Mother. I want to find one and I will do the rest of the cider. I am just not sure what i am looking FOR… c
It usually floats on the top, which is why vinegar is syphoned off the bottom. Did you have a sticky filmy stuff on top of your vinegar? Keep it, if so, and reuse it. Just feed it more alcohol from time to time to keep it alive. 🙂
Oh forgot – the original 4 bottles are still perfect. This was a trial method that didn’t work out.
thought so. i think the mother died on mine as I really did forget about it for over a year. c
A Happy Accident I think! And I am still cringing at the thought of your poor frozen hand stuck to the door handle…ouch!
You know it makes me shudder writing it .. I hate that feeling.. hate it! One day I will lose skin I swear!! c
Just love your posts Celi! The way you write always makes me giggle! Sure felt for you in your post ‘All Dawns Are Not Equal’ as you wrote about ‘that snow’ that ‘drives sideways and stings your face.’ I lived for several years above the Arctic Circle in Alaska, and the minus temperatures were hard to bear. As were the winter days when you barely saw the sun for months. So happy it is not as severe down here in Arkansas! In fact, it will be almost 60 degrees on Thursday and Friday!!!
Anyway, thinking of you in the cold and sending warm energies your way!!! XO
Oh No Alsaka, yup that would be real cold, I don’t mean Really cold – I DO mean Real Cold. and 60 degrees. What a fantastic winter to be having with all your new animals.. Your winter garden must be rocking on! Hope all is going well! c
Ouchie for the hand!
(shudder!) c
Ouch! Your cold weather reports sure put into perspective our complaints – it’s almost mild here, despite the 100mph winds blustering over us bringing curtains of rain. I shall stop grumbling forthwith. Keep some of that not-so-good cider: it’s great for cooking a piece of ham/bacon with all kinds of vegetables, cloves and coriander, a favourite cold weather meal.
That sounds like a good meal Viv.. I often have a good piece of ham left over from something, It would be a perfect winter meal.. thanks viv, c
Yep, don’t let the bright sun fool ya. Baby, it’s cold outside! But no snow and I’m lovin’ this!
I’ve know absolutely no clue about vinegar making. None whatsoever. I do recall a family friend, many years ago, making vinegar from the year’s remnants from their wine making but that’s all I remember. But I do what to support you. So, please include a bottle or 2 of vinegar when you deliver the wine, cheese, eggs, and pear cider.
So far it has been a great winter.. and as the Old Codger says.. I’ll take it! Your delivery is getting interesting, we may have to bring it up in the Old Dodge! .. wouldn’t that be fun! c
Wow! You never cease to amaze me with what you make on the farmy. DH says a bottle of champagne we got that I forgot about years ago has possibly turned to vinegar. Can that happen? And sunny and freaking cold here too! brrrrrrrrrrr t
If it has been exposed to air then it might have turned. The acid needs air to grow or something like that. c
Oh! and swing by me too on the way, my order is the same as ChgoJohn just to keep it easy.
I’ve had my share of wet hands on cold steel…never fun.
No no no that’s not code!! Keep your minds PC! and G rated!! I’m a plumber! SHEESH!
I never even went there.. not until you mentioned it!! crazy guy! c
Slow learners aren’t we!! c
hi! i just found your blog and absolutely love it. i am not even sure how i found you but i am glad i did! i added you to my sidebar so all of my readers can find you too. you inspired me to order a butter churn and start making my own butter, something i used to do but haven’t for a long time! thank you so much for this wonderful blog!
You are most welcome branwyn, i will pop over and see what you are doing! c
Too funny… I’ll remember your tip about the hands. Here we have the old “don’t stick your tongue on the metal fence” lecture when growing up. I think it’s awesome that you turned an accident into an accidently on purpose vinegar making endeavor!! Well done!!
But who would put their tongue on a fence anyway.. eeeooo.. c
ummm… not me, never…
Keep warm…….maybe there’s some wine in the basement that you have forgotten?
Maybe! (sounds of c racing away down the basement steps).. c
This gave me a good chuckle. I like happy accidents.
So do i greg, this one is so good i am doing on purpose next time! c