Why? Because you can! And pickle, and jam, or otherwise celebrate the resurgence of the domestic arts our forebears held so dear. Put on your best apron and step into our kitchen, won't you?
I came into an abundance of pears and made a delightful pear cordial. During the cordial-making process, I ended up with a big bowl full of pear cores, stem bits, and bruised chunks that I turned into delicious Pear Vinegar!
Delicious fruit from the wild can be used in so many ways. To preserve their goodness, dehydrating and fermenting open up a host of possibilities for enjoying them into the winter months.
Pineapple vinegar is made primarily from the leftover peel and core so it is both a delicious and ridiculously thrifty fermented food. Packed chock full of probiotics, we drink it like a shrub or use it in salads, sauces and cocktails.
There are monsters in my cupboard. Lots of them. Translucent, slimy, slippery creatures that lurk in the murky depths. I’m speaking of course, of the Mothers. Vinegar and kombucha Mothers, that is.
Our little apple tree has produced several bushels of organic apples (no spraying here!) and this year, while processing these golden green rbs into apple sauce, I realized that the peel/core palooza could be made into apple cider vinegar.
Making vinegar is almost as easy as throwing some sugar, some water and (optionally) some fruit scraps into a container and adding a bit of water. There's really not too much more to it than that!
This how-to, works for the frugal, the conservationists and the seekers of tasty among us. You need nothing special to make wine vinegar, not even "the mother."