Sometimes it's better to just do nothing at all.
That's what I did when a dinner guest commented, "Ew! Gross!"
And when my daughter sneered, "Mama! It's different!"
Friends and family members, including Alex, regarded the open jar of smelly cider with raised eyebrows and pinched noses. I maintained that I was following the vinegar recipe: pour fresh raw apple cider in a jar, cover with an air permeable top, and set it aside for months.
Wouldn't you know, when I pushed the 'mother' aside with a spoon on Sunday, the underlying clear tan liquid smelled and tasted exactly like cider vinegar! What an amazingly simple homesteading success!
Science says that natural yeast in our home pressed cider converted the sugars to alcohol. Natural bacteria then fermented the alcohol to acetic acid, or vinegar.
To store and use the vinegar, I removed the mother and strained out the flocculate, i.e. yeast poopies. I poured the vinegar into a vintage blue Ball jar and it's ready for salad dressing, mayonnaise, soups, and sauces.
Sometimes doing nothing turns into something amazing.
Added to Simple Lives Thursday 27.