This year the valley and surrounding areas had a major apple crop failure. I found some organic McIntosh apples, seconds, in Dummerston, VT at Dwight Miller Orchards. I ordered 4 bushels and we went up on October 5th and picked them up.
We weren’t going to be able to process them until several days later, so we put them in the cold room at 43F.
While I washed the first bushel, my husband was washing the cider press.The press is stored in the barn, not the most sanitary location.
The pressing bucket
Small press parts
Pressure washing the cider press
Prepping apples for the press
I have had a young homeschooling intern since September. She comes on Wednesdays and some Saturdays to learn about what I do here. So we planned to make vinegar when she was here.
Cheesecloth without mothers on left, buttercloth with mothers on right
I’ve made vinegar twice before and this year I was going to do an experiment. The first year I had used cheesecloth per instructions. Fruit flies got in but mothers formed and it was good vinegar.
See mothers on bottom on right
The second time I used buttercloth to keep the flies out. Mothers formed but not as robustly. The vinegar was still good.
The mothers throughout this jar
This year I am doing ½ cheesecloth with no mother added, and ½ buttercloth with some real good mothers added.
Today I plan to check the vinegar as it has been over a month and see what has happened.
what are mothers?
ALso, this reminds me- I just read about a town where there was a rabies scare with raccoons - but it was just that they were drunk on crab apples!!
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This is the mother that grew in my vinegar that I put a ginger root in. The root is peeking out on the bottom...
Essentially a culture in the vinegar making process...I did not put one in, they just grew....
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Your bottling and fermenting efforts are inspirational @goldenoakfarm. I would love to try apple cider vinegar. Those mothers are huge! Will you share you recipe?
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There's no recipe. You just press the apples, put the cider in jars. Cover with cheesecloth. Put in cool place out of the sun. Wait several weeks. Once it's got a mother, take off the cheesecloth, put on a non-reactive cap and store in a cool, dark place.
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You don't get mold? My friend tried it with and without apples (once juicing) and there was a mold problem. She says it took months to ferment which is why I haven't made any yet
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There was a small amount of mold on a couple of mothers in the very first batch I made. I washed the mothers off and they were fine. I've not had a problem with mold since, but I used buttercloth until this time, when I used 1/2 buttercloth and 1/2 cheesecloth. Have not checked the jars. Had thought to do it today, but alas, too tired....
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