My maternal grandparents were married in 1912. They bought a 160 acre farm in South Dakota from the man who had homesteaded it under the 1862 Homestead Act. The house was the original "soddie." They, like all farm folks then, planted a large garden. My grandfather attempted to make 5 gallons of tomato wine. My grandmother was a very strict Free Methodist and was vehemently opposed to alcohol. I guess opposites did attract. Anyway my grandfather let his "brew" go too long and it went from wine to vinegar. To my grandmother it was "praise the Lord." She now had 5 gallons of vinegar to use in canning and food prep. Every year after that, she and my grandfather made at least 10 gallons of tomato vinegar. I have no idea what their recipe was but I can tell you this. My grandmother made the very best pickles I have ever eaten, both sweet and dill. And: Ketchup that put Hunts and Heinz to shame. Have you ever made tomato vinegar?
He Heidi, As always, such wonderful information. I wanted to share that I experimented with making Sherry Vinegar. It is very expensive at the store so I never bought it. Then someone gave us a bottle of sherry around Christmastime. My husband and I don’t drink, so rather than cooking with the sherry, I decided to see if I could make vinegar out of it. I poured the sherry into an old Italian vinegar crock that I have, and added 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar (with the mother). Well...after a few months, I had an amazing “vinegar scoby” on top and some wonderful sherry vinegar!! I mix it with olive oil and it adds a wonderful complex sweet flavoring to my vinegar based salad dressings. It’s a real treat. But I am so anxious to use my apple cider vinegar to make some of the things you mentioned...plus I am going to try to make some of the floral vinegars to use for cleaning...what a good idea!! I have never tried making raisin vinegar but that is one of the first things on my list now!! Thank you so much for sharing all your wonderful insights. Love, Mary ❤️😘❤️ PS...I love how you open your segments...”God is good all the time”. So sweet and such a wonderful reminder. 😇🙏🏻😇
I made vinegar from every fruit we grow last year thanks to your encouragement. I did get scoby my plum vinegar, but only the plum. I did use one for a kombucha and added holy basil and ginger...it was delicious. I also used my grape vinegar to start my sourdough starter and it is the best starter I have ever made! Thanks for all you share! The person who suggested a book hit the nail on the head...it is a great idea for you!
No I don't do videos, but Heidi does! I think she has done a few on vinegars. I think it is pretty much the same for any fruit. I just use scraps from the fruit or chunks of fruit with my well water and a splash of Braggs vinegar to make sure I get some mother in it. Scroll through Heidis videos for more about vinegars.
Great vid, as usual. Thanks for tip about adding vinegar to breads for flavor and lasting longer. My mother was a single working woman so this type knowledge was not taught by her-guessing too exhausted working away from home as well as keeping house, and hauling 3 kids to after school activities, etc. She was a rare being and we loved her so much. My grandmother did stir her vinegars so I have done that in my experimentations. Just started your raisin vinegar. Can’t wait to see how it finishes. Look forward to the extract update soon.
Been watching alot of your videos, you are very informative. I just started making vinegars and love the various kinds. I found a wild Canadian crab apple tree in my dad's pasture this year and made about a gallon of vinegar out of it and it turned out so good! My husband and I have been adding it to various natural fruit drinks, love it. I juiced my own tree apples so I can make cider this winter, once my raisen and cranberry vinegars are done. Will also be making tinctures, thanks to your knowledge. Just need to say thank you and, yes, God is good!
I keep changing up the way I do it, I started doing it that way probably about the time I made this video but I found that simply adding more sugar to the beginning but stirring daily for about two weeks or until the bubbling stops works quite well and I have been getting a very acidic vinegar that is about 3.5 pH which is at the very least 5% acidity and it has been working great for making cheese, cleaning, and even pickling :) Here is my most recent vinegar video: czcams.com/video/srqq69hBOQ8/video.html
Thank you so much for your informative videos. I aspire to get back to the more natural, wholesome, self sufficient ways of homesteading & truly enjoy learning from you. Thanks again & God bless you! ❤
I have my first batch of vinegar going right now. I found some pineapple that had been chunked that was clearanced. I did add some sugar to it because I started it before watching to the end of the video. Yep, I got too excited. I have rinsing my hair with vinegar (from the store) for several weeks now. I could not believe how much more shampoo came out of it after doing that. Plus I can comb my hair easier afterward. Less tangles and it feels softer (which is surprising since I used vinegar.) Trying to figure out how to travel with it as my husband is taking me on a cruise and we have to fly to Seattle this summer.
I'm really loving & learning so much from your videos(along with Mr Rain). I enjoy learning about making my own of all sorts of things. Vinegar making is new to me, but since I love using vinegar for cleaning,etc plus am wanting to learn more about it for my health, I'm wanting to now make my own. Thanks for all y'all share. On a side note, my health issues are pretty severe, with autoimmune issues being at the top, so also slowly(so I don't get overwhelmed) trying to get healthier in my everyday living. I appreciate this channel so much.
Ahh sage vinegar, may be with lavender, come summer!!! I made a wild orange v last fall (there is a shrub where I walk, they are golf ball size and seedy and just drop off) it was a bit strange, cutting the fruit was all waxy on its own, they are definitely not sprayerd. I made some acv from Apple juice after having watched Esther make hers, that really put some mold on!
I made a pineapple vinegar from pineapple peelings and it is wonderful. It works better than Windex on mirrors and car windows. I will never buy a commercial glass cleaner again.
BlackBerry vinegar!! I am going to have to try that! I have yet to make my own, but look forward to expanding into this. So much to do and learn! Your skin is so lovely, by the way. Such a healthy glow. ☺
Thank you! My hair is often a struggle to get to stay in place, it can be very rebellious! haha! This is why I often have some of it down but it is nicer not having it hanging in my face.
Thank you! I am finding this way to be one of the easiest and most out of my way. I always have these hairs that never want to stay back which is one reason I always have some hanging down but with a little of my homemade hair spray, I am getting better at keeping them back.
This is so fascinating to me! I have wanted to make vinegar for a long time, but didn’t know how. I have made two tries. One fail and one epic success! The first one was apple vinegar with apple peels. I was going between your video and Stacy’s and somehow missed the sugar, I think 🤔 Second try was floral vinegar with pansies, lavender leaves, lemon balm and sage, which I stirred. Beautiful and smells SO good! Started another batch of apple vinegar with the whole apple, as you suggested and a raisin vinegar, stirring both. Started smelling “vinegary” in just a couple of days but is still bubbly when I stir it every morning. Having so much fun experimenting 😜 Thanks for the inspiration!
I've got my first ever batch being fermented as I send this. Its been a total of twelve days since I started the process. I used whole organic Fuji apples that have been chopped up with cores removed and placed them into two quart sized jars. Each quart was filled with one and a half apples, distilled water and two table spoons of sugar. I have been stirring it daily and its now starting to smell like vinegar. At this time it has the mother forming on the bottom. The color of the vinegar is pretty, its not the typical apple cider vinegar color as compared to buying from a retailer, it's the color of ruby / pink grapefruit. Everything seems normal with it, is this something to be expected? I'm very excited to try it. Thank you for all of the great content that your channel provides! Edit: Lol... I forgot that I added some concord grapes to the mix, that's why the color is different...
Even if you used only the apples and did several batches like that, the color of each batch will vary. My apple vinegars, even when using the same apples in each, always look different. This is normal, but yes, the grapes will change that too! haha
accumulating scraps and cores as I write this, to make a new batch of ACV...I have an older batch that never got very acidic, but has multiple mothers in it...used honey, may try just cane sugar this time...
I have been making my own vinegars for many years and no 2 batches ever come out the same. Im still learning and experimenting too. With ACV I have found a marked difference if 1) use the whole Apple and 2) stir it, it certainly gives the vinegar more body, acidity as well as the underlying sweetness. Freshly harvested apples/windfalls seem to make a superior vinegar. I still make batches with apple peelings etc and that responds to stirring occasionally when I actually remember to. All though there is nothing wrong with consuming the ACV made with peelings I do tend to use this for more for cleaning and animals, keeping the best stuff for human consumption. Though like everything on my homestead there are few hard and fast rules, I'm just not that consistent 😊 I have also tried adding sugar especially if the apples are of the sour cooking variety, that works quite well if your not too generous with it but don't use it with eating apples it really makes an inferior vinegar. The pH of the vinegar was actually more alkaline than acid!
I am thinking come mid summer when I have 8-10 jars of vinegar going, I am not going to have the time or the memory to stir them all! I figured the reason the last apple vinegar turned out so good is because these were both sweeter apples than the ones I get from my own tree and because I used the whole fruit. I do add sugar to the ones I make with peelings and cores for sure. I add about 1/4 cup per half gallon, I sometimes wonder if I should add more though.
Citrus vinegars are great, I recommend throwing in at least a bit of the fruit too. It also mixes well with other fruits and herbs. The lavender lemon vinegar I made not long ago turned out really great and I used it for washing my laundry. If you have not seen them, I recommend you watch my more recent vinegar videos showing how I make it now and answering more questions: How to Make Calendula Vinegar: czcams.com/video/srqq69hBOQ8/video.html Vinegar Q and A: czcams.com/video/ojCF0wO5QBU/video.html
Thanks for the information. Just stirred my apple cider vinegar after watching this. Didn’t see any mold. Just a lot of sediment in the bottom. Cedar vinegar sounds great.
Heidi I keep looking online for proportions sugar/ water/blackberries. Everybody is using vinegar as starter. I want to do it your way. This will be my first vinegar and so I am unsure. I’m using wild blackberries let’s say 2 cups.
I really do not measure, my amounts depend on what I am using and how much. If you are using a half gallon jar with that two cups, you will want at least a half cup of sugar. Berries are lower in sugar content than other fruits. If it stops bubbling after a couple of weeks, I suggest adding another quarter cup of sugar at that point in order to get a strong vinegar.
Can you make a vinegar using citrus? I have been drying organic orange peels and they smell so good. I love a citrus scent in my kitchen and bathroom cleaners.
I freeze diced carrots, onions, celery , all kinds of peppers. I cut them up put them on cookies sheets to freeze them in single layer, then take them out and put them in freezer bags. I have a food saver now sothis year i'm going to put them in that instead so i can vacuum out the air.
I only give my family homemade tortillas....I do rarely get store bought and they sit...unused...lol The girls say I've just spoiled them too much! Processed foods are yucky.
I had no idea all the different things you could make a vinegar out of. Where did you find all of this information or did you do trail and error? I look at all the beautiful plants/flowers/trees and wonder what health benefits they offer. We recently had one of our sycamore trees fall in a storm, (causing more damage than one would like), but I got to thinking "what health benefits come from the sycamore tree"? I had never thought like that before. I just love learning that almost everything surrounding us has some form of health benefit.
I never thought of making blackberry vinegar...I'll definitely have to try it this summer! I'm hoping my apple tree will produce this year so I can try making cider vinegar, but the battle with cedar-apple rust around here has robbed me of apples the last 2 summers. :-/ On a side note, I was inspired by you to start making water kefir, and I love it! I've been having grapefruit kefir with my breakfast every morning. It's such a great alternative to sugary fruit juices. So thanks for the inspiration! Can't wait to try making vinegar.
I have since learned that this happens to many but it does not mean there is anything wrong with it, mine tend to float up and down but I have never seen them all stay at the top, most stay at the bottom.
Mine are all at the top...after seeing this again, I looked...lol...but no mold! I stirred and will continue to give a stir daily...I always do with my ACV...I also have a half gallon of apricot ( from dryed) and a half gallon of papyia (spelling?), from dryed fruit as well going...
Love your videos, I have 4 different vinegars going right now, 2 of them have cam yeast on top, was curious what to do with it before straining. My apples are not sinking very much and it is just 30 days old. Thank you for the videos.
Hi: Did you try red wine vinegar yet? I use it for colds and would love to have a recipe. Also I have some confusion on how to make the apple cider vinegar with regards to quantities. Do you have a stand alone video on Apple Cider vinegar? Thanks for the great video's.
When you say "... saved the seeds from", so you mean you took the seeds out of the sliced (or chopped or whatever) Tomato that you bought and what - like washed & dried those seeds? Will they grow from those?
Yes, as long as you know it is heirloom and organic, it will grow. If it is not heirloom, it will grow but you cannot be sure what you will get from it
Rain Country OOOH, Oooh Talk about a "Gob" being well and truly "Smacked"!!! Well, mine is. Am going to try this with the Very, (Very) Expensive Sugardrop Tomatoes I buy because they taste beautiful. The comment was going to end up being a bit of a (long, loooo-ong) book, so I cut myself off and will send you an email, there's a difference between other people reading your comments and finding them interesting and people getting bored stuff with the flamin' Novel you wrote. 😁😂
Oh, also, can you make vinegar out of dried flowers? The weather has been so erratic here and nothing is doing well, even though it got off to a good start. I am getting just a couple of flowers on my pansies and the lavender looks like it is dying. But I did dry some while it was doing well.
You mentioned different types of vinegar, do you have a video that tells how to make them? Do you have videos on your multi herbal extract and some of the other things you talked about? I'm learning to expand things in cooking I come from a family that is just basic meat potato they don't use vinegars and different things in food items so I would love to know if your videos on different things if you don't could you make some I am so trying to learn to do things in a new and healthier way
Yes, I have videos on those things and they are linked in the upper right hand corner and in the end cards of this video. Or you can simply do a search for them from my main channel page by typing what you are looking for into the search bar (where they little spy glass is)
picking up apples from the store to start my own vinegar, not organic :( need to start somewhere, what would be in your opinion the better of the apples to use for vinegar
From what I can tell, the sweeter apples make the best vinegar, which these ones were so I am thinking that is one reason why this vinegar turned out better than the one I make from my own apples which are a tart apple
Thank you Heidi😊 I have not found any information on why some of my vinegars turn red. I made 2 pineapple ones and put them next to each other on my shelf. One is yellow, the other red. Hopefully someone here might know why and if it is still good?? Love and prayers Heidi~Pat❤
I wish I lived close by I would get 6 seed of the Amish Paste tomato's .. Thanks for all the info.. Vinegar overload I will have to reply this again .. lol big Hugs Have a great weekend. :") Question: Have you every grind beans for flour if so what have you made out of the flours? I have a Wonder Mill Grinder & am going to be trying new recipes with different flours. I have to sprout my grains now for health reasons. So It was a great investment for us.. :")
Though I do have a corn and bean auger for my grain mill, I have yet to try it myself. Sounds like it would be pretty healthy but I keep thinking that it would make the breads taste like dried beans and seems it would not care for that much. I do need to try it though. Maybe mix it with white rice flour for going gluten free and to cut back on the bean flavor?
Heidi, I just strained out my first jar of peach vinegar, OMG it smells wonderful!!. Can I reuse the "pulp" to make more vinegar, or should I throw it out? TIA!! ~~Leslie
It would be best to use fresh to start a new batch, the pulp leftover is going to have all the sugar and flavor depleted. I give mine to the chickens and they love it or you can just compost it, either way, it is not being wasted
I’m intrigued by your pain tincture with vinegar. How do you make it? My husband has chronic joint pain and we are always looking for something natural to help that doesn’t use alcohol. Can you post a recipe or do a video on it specifically?
I do have an older video out but I may be doing a new one in the near future as I have come up with some better ideas. I believe in this video I am using alcohol but I also think I remember explaining the use of vinegar. I do not have time to watch and listen to see what I said here but just in case - if you use vinegar, you will need to take up to a full shot glass full where as with alcohol, you only need a teaspoon up to a Tablespoon : czcams.com/video/FppCHpl2EQ0/video.html
Hi ya Heidi! U gave lots of good info! Before I got my iPhone which was n October 2017 I read magazines, I read on using water and backing soda to was my hair. How do u wash ur hair with vinegar??? Did u make a video yet showing the mold n ur vinegars and how u remove it??? I work at a convenient store. We sold fruit cups, if they expired, I got to take them home, apparently I didn’t know what I was doing, every day I added sugar and stirred twice a day (it never got mold) after 4/5 days I tasted it, tasted alcoholic, a lady n ur comments spoke of someone wanting to make tomato wine, he forgot about it and it turned n to vinegar. Is that what happens, alcohol taste1st, then it turns to vinegar??? Thank u
Considering the chemical composition or the nature of vinegar, is it advisable to put it in an airtight glass container if one wants to keep it in the pantry for years?
I stuck some blueberry vinegar I made a few months ago into the refrigerator cause I was scared to use it. I’m going to make some pumpkin bread this weekend so should I set it out and bring it to room temperature before I use it? Thanks for your videos I enjoy them.
I used to make sourdough but now when I do a home fermented bread, I use my own fermentation starter. I do have a couple of videos out on it. It took some practice to get it where it was a good rise and it is a three day process but it makes a sweeter, less sour bread than sourdough. :)
I simply made a choice that I wanted to make the most out of my fruit scraps and started looking into making vinegar online - I think I mostly leaned from blog pages plus a couple of youtube videos and compared what different people were doing and just started doing it. It has been so long now though that I cannot remember whose pages and channels I initially learned from. Then I just started experimenting with different fruits and herbs on my own
Dear Heidi, I am needing to know your straining method for storing finished Apple Cider Vinegar in order to preserve the mother. Is it possible to make a video on this as well? Thank you! (Stephen's wife, Laura)
I simply store it in half gallon mason jars in a cool, dark cabinet. It seems to do well there and when I do get a scoby type mother, that is when it usually forms
Do you strain out the mother before you use it? What do you do with the mother? I didn't know what to do with it so I fed it to the chickens. Would it be useful to save it and add it to another starting batch?
I just leave it all in while using it unless it gets in the way. You can add them to a new batch of vinegar but I have not noticed any difference in doing this so I do not bother. I would say feeding to the chickens is the best option
Though I am sure it would work, I do not do that because there was too much time and energy going into drying the fruit so my dried apples are saved for pie making and other things but this time of year when the apples are coming in, I make a LOT of vinegar with the peels and cores while I am preparing them for drying, making apple butter, apple sauce, et cetera
This is an old video and a ThisNThat to boot so without watching it again, I would not remember enough to know what you are asking. What liquid are you referring to?
I know I talk a bit about it here but I also talk more in my other vinegar videos about how I use them. Basically, I use any of the vinegars for my hair wash though I mostly stick to the floral ones for that. The floral, cedar, and juniper ones I use also for cleaning anything from glass, to floors, to carpets. All the rest are used in breads, stir fries, marinating, and other cooking. I meant to talk more in detail of it in this video but forgot. I will need to do that in another vinegar video :)
I ran out of icard so here is the Tortilla recipe video: czcams.com/video/pan0QXG01fY/video.html
You and Mr. Rain should write a modern homesteading book, you have so much knowledge. Even some ebooks and sell them on etsy.
We are considering and somewhat working on this very thing, Thank you!
Rain Country You know I would be first in line to get them😉❤❤❤
I would buy it/them.
Tee Teresa Flory , I bet Lisa Booker would beat ya 😁
I would buy one too! Needing something in print just in case there is no more CZcams or internet access!!
My maternal grandparents were married in 1912.
They bought a 160 acre farm in South Dakota from the man who had homesteaded it under the 1862 Homestead Act.
The house was the original "soddie."
They, like all farm folks then, planted a large garden.
My grandfather attempted to make 5 gallons of tomato wine.
My grandmother was a very strict Free Methodist and was vehemently opposed to alcohol.
I guess opposites did attract.
Anyway my grandfather let his "brew" go too long and it went from wine to vinegar.
To my grandmother it was "praise the Lord."
She now had 5 gallons of vinegar to use in canning and food prep.
Every year after that, she and my grandfather made at least 10 gallons of tomato vinegar.
I have no idea what their recipe was but I can tell you this.
My grandmother made the very best pickles I have ever eaten, both sweet and dill.
And: Ketchup that put Hunts and Heinz to shame.
Have you ever made tomato vinegar?
This is the second time I have heard about tomato vinegar and no, I have not tried it yet but now I am intrigued!
You have the most educational channel for things I want to know that any other channel I have watched- Thank You
Thank you Theresa!
Rain Country - Hi Heidi, I agree!! Your are such a wealth of knowledge!! Thank you SO much for sharing all you know. Love, Mary ❤️😘❤️
He Heidi, As always, such wonderful information. I wanted to share that I experimented with making Sherry Vinegar. It is very expensive at the store so I never bought it. Then someone gave us a bottle of sherry around Christmastime. My husband and I don’t drink, so rather than cooking with the sherry, I decided to see if I could make vinegar out of it. I poured the sherry into an old Italian vinegar crock that I have, and added 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar (with the mother). Well...after a few months, I had an amazing “vinegar scoby” on top and some wonderful sherry vinegar!! I mix it with olive oil and it adds a wonderful complex sweet flavoring to my vinegar based salad dressings. It’s a real treat. But I am so anxious to use my apple cider vinegar to make some of the things you mentioned...plus I am going to try to make some of the floral vinegars to use for cleaning...what a good idea!! I have never tried making raisin vinegar but that is one of the first things on my list now!! Thank you so much for sharing all your wonderful insights. Love, Mary ❤️😘❤️ PS...I love how you open your segments...”God is good all the time”. So sweet and such a wonderful reminder. 😇🙏🏻😇
I made vinegar from every fruit we grow last year thanks to your encouragement. I did get scoby my plum vinegar, but only the plum. I did use one for a kombucha and added holy basil and ginger...it was delicious. I also used my grape vinegar to start my sourdough starter and it is the best starter I have ever made! Thanks for all you share! The person who suggested a book hit the nail on the head...it is a great idea for you!
Ferne Watt the vinegars you listed you have made sound so good. Do you do any videos on the items you make for others to learn? I'm a newbie at this
No I don't do videos, but Heidi does! I think she has done a few on vinegars. I think it is pretty much the same for any fruit. I just use scraps from the fruit or chunks of fruit with my well water and a splash of Braggs vinegar to make sure I get some mother in it. Scroll through Heidis videos for more about vinegars.
Great vid, as usual. Thanks for tip about adding vinegar to breads for flavor and lasting longer. My mother was a single working woman so this type knowledge was not taught by her-guessing too exhausted working away from home as well as keeping house, and hauling 3 kids to after school activities, etc. She was a rare being and we loved her so much. My grandmother did stir her vinegars so I have done that in my experimentations. Just started your raisin vinegar. Can’t wait to see how it finishes. Look forward to the extract update soon.
Been watching alot of your videos, you are very informative. I just started making vinegars and love the various kinds. I found a wild Canadian crab apple tree in my dad's pasture this year and made about a gallon of vinegar out of it and it turned out so good! My husband and I have been adding it to various natural fruit drinks, love it. I juiced my own tree apples so I can make cider this winter, once my raisen and cranberry vinegars are done. Will also be making tinctures, thanks to your knowledge. Just need to say thank you and, yes, God is good!
Nice! Thank you Linda!
I add sugar to my vinager every couple weeks, it makes a stronger vinager for me in my opinion. I do this twice.
I keep changing up the way I do it, I started doing it that way probably about the time I made this video but I found that simply adding more sugar to the beginning but stirring daily for about two weeks or until the bubbling stops works quite well and I have been getting a very acidic vinegar that is about 3.5 pH which is at the very least 5% acidity and it has been working great for making cheese, cleaning, and even pickling :) Here is my most recent vinegar video: czcams.com/video/srqq69hBOQ8/video.html
Thank you so much for your informative videos. I aspire to get back to the more natural, wholesome, self sufficient ways of homesteading & truly enjoy learning from you. Thanks again & God bless you! ❤
I have my first batch of vinegar going right now. I found some pineapple that had been chunked that was clearanced. I did add some sugar to it because I started it before watching to the end of the video. Yep, I got too excited. I have rinsing my hair with vinegar (from the store) for several weeks now. I could not believe how much more shampoo came out of it after doing that. Plus I can comb my hair easier afterward. Less tangles and it feels softer (which is surprising since I used vinegar.) Trying to figure out how to travel with it as my husband is taking me on a cruise and we have to fly to Seattle this summer.
Thanks for all the tips!!!.....
Thank you. Will do.
I'm really loving & learning so much from your videos(along with Mr Rain). I enjoy learning about making my own of all sorts of things. Vinegar making is new to me, but since I love using vinegar for cleaning,etc plus am wanting to learn more about it for my health, I'm wanting to now make my own. Thanks for all y'all share.
On a side note, my health issues are pretty severe, with autoimmune issues being at the top, so also slowly(so I don't get overwhelmed) trying to get healthier in my everyday living.
I appreciate this channel so much.
Thank you for this! Yes, slowly and one step at a time is often the best way to go, I pray you will find yourself in better and better health ;)
Ahh sage vinegar, may be with lavender, come summer!!!
I made a wild orange v last fall (there is a shrub where I walk, they are golf ball size and seedy and just drop off) it was a bit strange, cutting the fruit was all waxy on its own, they are definitely not sprayerd.
I made some acv from Apple juice after having watched Esther make hers, that really put some mold on!
I made a pineapple vinegar from pineapple peelings and it is wonderful. It works better than Windex on mirrors and car windows. I will never buy a commercial glass cleaner again.
Great information . Really enjoy all the ideas and I’m making all sorts of vinegars now.
BlackBerry vinegar!! I am going to have to try that! I have yet to make my own, but look forward to expanding into this. So much to do and learn! Your skin is so lovely, by the way. Such a healthy glow. ☺
Very informative. Thank you for touching on all the uses you ha e for your vinegars. Very helpful. TFS Love, hugs and blessings ~The Kid!
Love the Cherokee purple toms. Love your hair up! Up and away from your face, beautiful face to match the beautiful woman!
Thank you! My hair is often a struggle to get to stay in place, it can be very rebellious! haha! This is why I often have some of it down but it is nicer not having it hanging in my face.
Me too.
Good morning Heidi :-D
LOVE your hair today!!! Vinegar. YAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you! I am finding this way to be one of the easiest and most out of my way. I always have these hairs that never want to stay back which is one reason I always have some hanging down but with a little of my homemade hair spray, I am getting better at keeping them back.
Love those bowls you got your beans in...that bottle of ACV looks very nice :) thanks, Heidi ..for your this n that's ~♡~ love it
They were hand crafted in Hawaii - handed down to me from my Mother in Law :)
I bought for the first time balsamic vinegar and it taste good. Thank you for your teachings, God bless!
Very interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing. Blessings to you and your family!
This is so fascinating to me! I have wanted to make vinegar for a long time, but didn’t know how. I have made two tries. One fail and one epic success! The first one was apple vinegar with apple peels. I was going between your video and Stacy’s and somehow missed the sugar, I think 🤔 Second try was floral vinegar with pansies, lavender leaves, lemon balm and sage, which I stirred. Beautiful and smells SO good! Started another batch of apple vinegar with the whole apple, as you suggested and a raisin vinegar, stirring both. Started smelling “vinegary” in just a couple of days but is still bubbly when I stir it every morning. Having so much fun experimenting 😜 Thanks for the inspiration!
I've got my first ever batch being fermented as I send this. Its been a total of twelve days since I started the process. I used whole organic Fuji apples that have been chopped up with cores removed and placed them into two quart sized jars. Each quart was filled with one and a half apples, distilled water and two table spoons of sugar. I have been stirring it daily and its now starting to smell like vinegar. At this time it has the mother forming on the bottom. The color of the vinegar is pretty, its not the typical apple cider vinegar color as compared to buying from a retailer, it's the color of ruby / pink grapefruit. Everything seems normal with it, is this something to be expected? I'm very excited to try it. Thank you for all of the great content that your channel provides!
Edit: Lol... I forgot that I added some concord grapes to the mix, that's why the color is different...
Even if you used only the apples and did several batches like that, the color of each batch will vary. My apple vinegars, even when using the same apples in each, always look different. This is normal, but yes, the grapes will change that too! haha
I love seeing all the different items you use for vinegar. Gonna have to expand this year now that I have a little experience under my belt.
accumulating scraps and cores as I write this, to make a new batch of ACV...I have an older batch that never got very acidic, but has multiple mothers in it...used honey, may try just cane sugar this time...
Different parts of plants are extracted better in different solutions, but I can never remember which and what 😂
I am so excited to try this! THANKS!
I have been making my own vinegars for many years and no 2 batches ever come out the same. Im still learning and experimenting too. With ACV I have found a marked difference if 1) use the whole Apple and 2) stir it, it certainly gives the vinegar more body, acidity as well as the underlying sweetness. Freshly harvested apples/windfalls seem to make a superior vinegar. I still make batches with apple peelings etc and that responds to stirring occasionally when I actually remember to. All though there is nothing wrong with consuming the ACV made with peelings I do tend to use this for more for cleaning and animals, keeping the best stuff for human consumption. Though like everything on my homestead there are few hard and fast rules, I'm just not that consistent 😊 I have also tried adding sugar especially if the apples are of the sour cooking variety, that works quite well if your not too generous with it but don't use it with eating apples it really makes an inferior vinegar. The pH of the vinegar was actually more alkaline than acid!
I am thinking come mid summer when I have 8-10 jars of vinegar going, I am not going to have the time or the memory to stir them all! I figured the reason the last apple vinegar turned out so good is because these were both sweeter apples than the ones I get from my own tree and because I used the whole fruit. I do add sugar to the ones I make with peelings and cores for sure. I add about 1/4 cup per half gallon, I sometimes wonder if I should add more though.
I can't wait til my husband gets the greenhouse done!😀...
I have started my first attempt at making my own Apple vinegar. I am thinking of also trying grapefruit peels and maybe mixing in lemon.
Citrus vinegars are great, I recommend throwing in at least a bit of the fruit too. It also mixes well with other fruits and herbs. The lavender lemon vinegar I made not long ago turned out really great and I used it for washing my laundry. If you have not seen them, I recommend you watch my more recent vinegar videos showing how I make it now and answering more questions:
How to Make Calendula Vinegar: czcams.com/video/srqq69hBOQ8/video.html
Vinegar Q and A: czcams.com/video/ojCF0wO5QBU/video.html
Thanks for the information. Just stirred my apple cider vinegar after watching this. Didn’t see any mold. Just a lot of sediment in the bottom. Cedar vinegar sounds great.
Heidi I keep looking online for proportions sugar/ water/blackberries. Everybody is using vinegar as starter. I want to do it your way. This will be my first vinegar and so I am unsure. I’m using wild blackberries let’s say 2 cups.
I really do not measure, my amounts depend on what I am using and how much. If you are using a half gallon jar with that two cups, you will want at least a half cup of sugar. Berries are lower in sugar content than other fruits. If it stops bubbling after a couple of weeks, I suggest adding another quarter cup of sugar at that point in order to get a strong vinegar.
Thanks Heidi.
i just made some! thank you and God bless
Can you make a vinegar using citrus? I have been drying organic orange peels and they smell so good. I love a citrus scent in my kitchen and bathroom cleaners.
Yes you can and I have in the past using a blend of lemon, orange, and lime peels. It turned out quite good :)
Rain Country does it matter if they are dry or fresh?
Though I typically use fresh, I believe dried should work fine
I didnt realize you could freeze celery..good to know.
I pretty much freeze or dehydrate anything I do not can :D
I freeze diced carrots, onions, celery , all kinds of peppers. I cut them up put them on cookies sheets to freeze them in single layer, then take them out and put them in freezer bags. I have a food saver now sothis year i'm going to put them in that instead so i can vacuum out the air.
I only give my family homemade tortillas....I do rarely get store bought and they sit...unused...lol The girls say I've just spoiled them too much! Processed foods are yucky.
Funny how when you get used to homemade, eating store bought seems like you can taste all the nasty additives and nothing more! blech!
Great video, goods tips. God bless you.
Great information! Thank you for sharing!!
I had no idea all the different things you could make a vinegar out of. Where did you find all of this information or did you do trail and error? I look at all the beautiful plants/flowers/trees and wonder what health benefits they offer. We recently had one of our sycamore trees fall in a storm, (causing more damage than one would like), but I got to thinking "what health benefits come from the sycamore tree"? I had never thought like that before. I just love learning that almost everything surrounding us has some form of health benefit.
Some things are trial and error while other things come from hunches I have and I go look it up to see if I am correct
I never thought of making blackberry vinegar...I'll definitely have to try it this summer! I'm hoping my apple tree will produce this year so I can try making cider vinegar, but the battle with cedar-apple rust around here has robbed me of apples the last 2 summers. :-/
On a side note, I was inspired by you to start making water kefir, and I love it! I've been having grapefruit kefir with my breakfast every morning. It's such a great alternative to sugary fruit juices. So thanks for the inspiration! Can't wait to try making vinegar.
Grapefruit sounds wonderful! I need to try that one myself!
Very informative Thanks Heidi
I've gotten better cider also by using the whole apple....
yes!! great
So talented! Subbed!
Thank you!
Hmm...I should look closer...my raisins are all floating at the top...didn't hear this the first time I watched 🤔
I have since learned that this happens to many but it does not mean there is anything wrong with it, mine tend to float up and down but I have never seen them all stay at the top, most stay at the bottom.
Mine are all at the top...after seeing this again, I looked...lol...but no mold! I stirred and will continue to give a stir daily...I always do with my ACV...I also have a half gallon of apricot ( from dryed) and a half gallon of papyia (spelling?), from dryed fruit as well going...
Love your videos, I have 4 different vinegars going right now, 2 of them have cam yeast on top, was curious what to do with it before straining. My apples are not sinking very much and it is just 30 days old. Thank you for the videos.
You can scrape the yeast off the top or strain it through cotton cloth
@@RainCountryHomestead Thank you
Hi: Did you try red wine vinegar yet? I use it for colds and would love to have a recipe. Also I have some confusion on how to make the apple cider vinegar with regards to quantities. Do you have a stand alone video on Apple Cider vinegar? Thanks for the great video's.
I do not recall if I have one just on apple but I have a whole playlist of vinegar videos that I linked to in one of the end cards of this video
When you say "... saved the seeds from", so you mean you took the seeds out of the sliced (or chopped or whatever) Tomato that you bought and what - like washed & dried those seeds? Will they grow from those?
Yes, as long as you know it is heirloom and organic, it will grow. If it is not heirloom, it will grow but you cannot be sure what you will get from it
Rain Country OOOH, Oooh Talk about a "Gob" being well and truly "Smacked"!!! Well, mine is. Am going to try this with the Very, (Very) Expensive Sugardrop Tomatoes I buy because they taste beautiful. The comment was going to end up being a bit of a (long, loooo-ong) book, so I cut myself off and will send you an email, there's a difference between other people reading your comments and finding them interesting and people getting bored stuff with the flamin' Novel you wrote. 😁😂
haha! :D
Oh, also, can you make vinegar out of dried flowers? The weather has been so erratic here and nothing is doing well, even though it got off to a good start. I am getting just a couple of flowers on my pansies and the lavender looks like it is dying. But I did dry some while it was doing well.
Yessssss! I love love your VIDEOS. I have a lot of calendula and I was wondering if I can use them to make vinegar for hair. Thanks
Yep, I have used them a few times for that :)
You mentioned different types of vinegar, do you have a video that tells how to make them? Do you have videos on your multi herbal extract and some of the other things you talked about? I'm learning to expand things in cooking I come from a family that is just basic meat potato they don't use vinegars and different things in food items so I would love to know if your videos on different things if you don't could you make some I am so trying to learn to do things in a new and healthier way
Yes, I have videos on those things and they are linked in the upper right hand corner and in the end cards of this video. Or you can simply do a search for them from my main channel page by typing what you are looking for into the search bar (where they little spy glass is)
picking up apples from the store to start my own vinegar, not organic :( need to start somewhere, what would be in your opinion the better of the apples to use for vinegar
From what I can tell, the sweeter apples make the best vinegar, which these ones were so I am thinking that is one reason why this vinegar turned out better than the one I make from my own apples which are a tart apple
Thank You
Thank you Heidi😊 I have not found any information on why some of my vinegars turn red. I made 2 pineapple ones and put them next to each other on my shelf. One is yellow, the other red. Hopefully someone here might know why and if it is still good?? Love and prayers Heidi~Pat❤
That is odd, but then again, I notice my apple vinegars all have a different color, even when they are all made from the same apples.
Sometimes individual fruits or even parts of them will have slightly different chemical (naturally) make-ups and that can affect color. Taste. & odor.
I wish I lived close by I would get 6 seed of the Amish Paste tomato's .. Thanks for all the info.. Vinegar overload I will have to reply this again .. lol big Hugs Have a great weekend. :") Question: Have you every grind beans for flour if so what have you made out of the flours? I have a Wonder Mill Grinder & am going to be trying new recipes with different flours. I have to sprout my grains now for health reasons. So It was a great investment for us.. :")
Though I do have a corn and bean auger for my grain mill, I have yet to try it myself. Sounds like it would be pretty healthy but I keep thinking that it would make the breads taste like dried beans and seems it would not care for that much. I do need to try it though. Maybe mix it with white rice flour for going gluten free and to cut back on the bean flavor?
Rain Country I will try it out and let ya know 🤔
Heidi, I just strained out my first jar of peach vinegar, OMG it smells wonderful!!. Can I reuse the "pulp" to make more vinegar, or should I throw it out? TIA!! ~~Leslie
It would be best to use fresh to start a new batch, the pulp leftover is going to have all the sugar and flavor depleted. I give mine to the chickens and they love it or you can just compost it, either way, it is not being wasted
I’m intrigued by your pain tincture with vinegar. How do you make it? My husband has chronic joint pain and we are always looking for something natural to help that doesn’t use alcohol. Can you post a recipe or do a video on it specifically?
I do have an older video out but I may be doing a new one in the near future as I have come up with some better ideas. I believe in this video I am using alcohol but I also think I remember explaining the use of vinegar. I do not have time to watch and listen to see what I said here but just in case - if you use vinegar, you will need to take up to a full shot glass full where as with alcohol, you only need a teaspoon up to a Tablespoon :
czcams.com/video/FppCHpl2EQ0/video.html
I'm wondering about pepper vinegar. Would that still be the same basic recipe?
Yes. Just know that when not using anything high in natural sugars, more sugar will need to be added to the water to get the same result
Hi ya Heidi! U gave lots of good info! Before I got my iPhone which was n October 2017 I read magazines, I read on using water and backing soda to was my hair. How do u wash ur hair with vinegar??? Did u make a video yet showing the mold n ur vinegars and how u remove it??? I work at a convenient store. We sold fruit cups, if they expired, I got to take them home, apparently I didn’t know what I was doing, every day I added sugar and stirred twice a day (it never got mold) after 4/5 days I tasted it, tasted alcoholic, a lady n ur comments spoke of someone wanting to make tomato wine, he forgot about it and it turned n to vinegar. Is that what happens, alcohol taste1st, then it turns to vinegar??? Thank u
Considering the chemical composition or the nature of vinegar, is it advisable to put it in an airtight glass container if one wants to keep it in the pantry for years?
Yes, I covered that in this video: czcams.com/video/vaaSIb8XY5k/video.html
I stuck some blueberry vinegar I made a few months ago into the refrigerator cause I was scared to use it. I’m going to make some pumpkin bread this weekend so should I set it out and bring it to room temperature before I use it? Thanks for your videos I enjoy them.
Do you have a sourdough starter recipe? I would love to see that .
I used to make sourdough but now when I do a home fermented bread, I use my own fermentation starter. I do have a couple of videos out on it. It took some practice to get it where it was a good rise and it is a three day process but it makes a sweeter, less sour bread than sourdough. :)
How and why did you start making Vinegar? Where did you learn do make it?
I simply made a choice that I wanted to make the most out of my fruit scraps and started looking into making vinegar online - I think I mostly leaned from blog pages plus a couple of youtube videos and compared what different people were doing and just started doing it. It has been so long now though that I cannot remember whose pages and channels I initially learned from. Then I just started experimenting with different fruits and herbs on my own
Dear Heidi, I am needing to know your straining method for storing finished Apple Cider Vinegar in order to preserve the mother. Is it possible to make a video on this as well? Thank you! (Stephen's wife, Laura)
I simply store it in half gallon mason jars in a cool, dark cabinet. It seems to do well there and when I do get a scoby type mother, that is when it usually forms
Do you strain out the mother before you use it? What do you do with the mother? I didn't know what to do with it so I fed it to the chickens. Would it be useful to save it and add it to another starting batch?
I just leave it all in while using it unless it gets in the way. You can add them to a new batch of vinegar but I have not noticed any difference in doing this so I do not bother. I would say feeding to the chickens is the best option
Have you used your dehydrated apples to,make a vinegar?
Though I am sure it would work, I do not do that because there was too much time and energy going into drying the fruit so my dried apples are saved for pie making and other things but this time of year when the apples are coming in, I make a LOT of vinegar with the peels and cores while I am preparing them for drying, making apple butter, apple sauce, et cetera
I'd like to try and make some vinegar... do you have a recipe for us that never made it before? 🤗
You can check out my vinegar playlist that I linked at the end of the video and find a whole bunch of them :)
Heidi on the juniper/cedar Vinegar do you use the needles, berries, branches, wood, or ??? to make the Vinegar ?
I just cut small branches and stick the whole thing in :)
If I use cider for extracts...would I need to use alcohol? I'm really trying to avoid the alcohol...I'm going to try some with just the glycerin...
Listening more to your video...I think you already answered the question...lol
I actually go more into this in my extract update video that should be going up next week sometime
How much vinagar do you put in your breads?
1-2 Tablespoons
When you add the vinegar , are you using in place of the liquid ??
This is an old video and a ThisNThat to boot so without watching it again, I would not remember enough to know what you are asking. What liquid are you referring to?
Hi,how much vinegar to you use in a loaf of bread?
1-2 Tablespoons
I left my apple vinegar for about 2 months, is this now alcoholic or can I still use it? TY
Yes, you can use it, at that point there would be no alcohol in it, it turns to alcohol only in the beginning stages, vinegar is the final stage
How old is your oldest stored vinegar?
At least a year
What are some of the uses for the variety of vinegars?
I know I talk a bit about it here but I also talk more in my other vinegar videos about how I use them. Basically, I use any of the vinegars for my hair wash though I mostly stick to the floral ones for that. The floral, cedar, and juniper ones I use also for cleaning anything from glass, to floors, to carpets. All the rest are used in breads, stir fries, marinating, and other cooking. I meant to talk more in detail of it in this video but forgot. I will need to do that in another vinegar video :)
Ok, listening to this again, I did talk more the uses at 13:22. I was thinking I had but I do know I still left some things out
Rain Country no way 😉