Pineapple Vinegar
This is a great way to use all of the goodness of a precious pineapple, especially the flavorful, juicy bits that are left on the peel when you trim the fruit. It doesn't take long to put a batch together, using just some water and sugar—nature does the rest of the work for you while you wait. In a few weeks, you'll have vinegar fit for queens and kings!
Ingredients
- Scraps from 1 organic pineapple peel and core
- 6 cups water
- 3/4 cup sugar
Instructions
- Add your scraps to a clean, wide-mouthed, non-metallic vessel, filling it 1/2 to 3/4 full.
- Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar and let cool to room temperature.
- Pour the sugar solution over the scraps to completely cover the scraps, but don't fill the jar, you'll need the room for solution displaced when you add weight to hold down the scraps.
- Make more solution with a 1/2 cup sugar to 1 quart water ratio if you need more to cover.
- Use a fermentation weight or make something to weigh down the scraps in the solution, such as a lidded jar full of water. Push down on the weight so that the scraps are fully submerged by the solution. Add more solution or water if you have space left in your jar.
- Cover the top of the vessel with cheesecloth, coffee filter, or flour sack towel and use a rubberband to hold it in place.
- Put your jars in a dark, room temperature location, in something to catch any liquid that might overflow out during the fermentation process. Cover with a towel to keep out the light.
- Check your jars every couple of days, making sure scraps are staying under the solution. Pull out any moldy scraps on the surface and gently push on the weights to circulate the solution.
- Continue this for 1 week to let it ferment and then strain your mixture.
- Pour the solution into a clean, non-metallic jar. Put your covering back on top, secure with a rubberband, and return to the spot you were fermenting in. Stir every few days.
- It will take another 3-4 weeks for the mixture to turn into vinegar. Smell and taste the solution to determine when it’s the tartness you want and that no alcohol remains.
- Transfer to a smaller, narrow neck bottle and seal tightly to keep from oxidizing.