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It's a pretty simple process to make any fruit cider vinegar, though really there isn't a set recipe. It's more a concept than a recipe: make cider, add mother and turn the alcohol into vinegar.
You can make it with any fruit, including making it using just the scraps, skins and core, rather than whole fruit. I think it's better to use all of the fruit because so much fruit is wasted when you have fruit trees.
Over ripe pears are ideal for this. The juicier and sweeter the better. The natural sugar will be fermented into alcohol and the alcohol into vinegar. So it stands to reason that the less water added to the intake stages, the more alcohol and therefore the stronger the vinegar. And the vinegar strength is something you need to factor in for your end use of the cider vinegar. If you're making chutney using apple or pear cider vinegar, you'll want a decent strength vinegar otherwise you'll not preserve the fruit in the chutney.
You'll need some of the mother from any source (shop bought live acv or pcv is the easiest option and what I used.) You'll want the sediment from the bottom of the bottle, so let it stand and don't shake it. And it's exactly the same as for Apple cider vinegar. My pears were as ripe as possible and literally running down my arms, so I don't add sugar. I'm guessing adding sugar will make it more acidic in the long run? Some recipes add sugar (alarming amounts) others don't add any.
One really obvious point to make is that it is possible to make this from pure cloudy apple or pear juice where it has not been pasteurised (or sterilised by other methods). Just start at adding the mother and don't add water. You'll likely not want sugar either
Ingredients
Overripe pears, washed with stems and pips removed
Apple or Pear Cider Vinegar Mother
Water (optional)
Raw Sugar (optional)
Equipment
Big bucket with lid (sterilised)
Clean tea towels
String or bungee cord
Wooden spoon (sterilised)
Grater or food processor (well cleaned before use).
Plenty of lidded bottles that can be sterilised easily.
Method
Vinegar can take years to mature and just like wine, apparently improves with maturity.
Obviously if you see black mould growing or it smells bad, you've not managed to keep things clean enough, so it will need to be thrown. But the grated pear will go mid brown in the oxidised fruit look. That's fine, black mould however isn't.
These are the discs of mother in my current bottles.
You can make it with any fruit, including making it using just the scraps, skins and core, rather than whole fruit. I think it's better to use all of the fruit because so much fruit is wasted when you have fruit trees.
Over ripe pears are ideal for this. The juicier and sweeter the better. The natural sugar will be fermented into alcohol and the alcohol into vinegar. So it stands to reason that the less water added to the intake stages, the more alcohol and therefore the stronger the vinegar. And the vinegar strength is something you need to factor in for your end use of the cider vinegar. If you're making chutney using apple or pear cider vinegar, you'll want a decent strength vinegar otherwise you'll not preserve the fruit in the chutney.
You'll need some of the mother from any source (shop bought live acv or pcv is the easiest option and what I used.) You'll want the sediment from the bottom of the bottle, so let it stand and don't shake it. And it's exactly the same as for Apple cider vinegar. My pears were as ripe as possible and literally running down my arms, so I don't add sugar. I'm guessing adding sugar will make it more acidic in the long run? Some recipes add sugar (alarming amounts) others don't add any.
One really obvious point to make is that it is possible to make this from pure cloudy apple or pear juice where it has not been pasteurised (or sterilised by other methods). Just start at adding the mother and don't add water. You'll likely not want sugar either
Ingredients
Overripe pears, washed with stems and pips removed
Apple or Pear Cider Vinegar Mother
Water (optional)
Raw Sugar (optional)
Equipment
Big bucket with lid (sterilised)
Clean tea towels
String or bungee cord
Wooden spoon (sterilised)
Grater or food processor (well cleaned before use).
Plenty of lidded bottles that can be sterilised easily.
Method
- Grate, mash or even puree (food processor or liquidiser) the washed pears. Everything except the pips and stems can be used. Cover mash/grated pears with minimum of boiled cold water. If you're using tap water remember that chloride and fluoride added to tap water will inhibit the mother, so boil it well, allow it to go cold and stand overnight to get the water breathing. Alternatively use a flat mineral water that states it is not chlorinated. Add the mother (and sugar if you've decided to add some) stir well and cover with a breathable lid (couple of tea towels) anchoring with the string.
- With a clean sterile spoon, stir the mash every day. Let the bucket ferment away bubbling very happily, smelling delicious for a couple of weeks or until it stops bubbling and you have something alcoholic!
- Strain and recover as much liquid as possible (a fruit press is handy here unless you're happy wringing the juice out of grated fermented pear by hand... or hang in a nut milk bag and squeeze the life out of it...) it will be very cloudy, that's fine. It settles. In a few months, if you want to, you can pour the clear stuff over to a fresh sterile bottles leaving the fruit sediment in the bottom. The mother will form a disc that will float and when disturbed sink to the bottom. Sediment is very clearly different. Both are visible in the photo above.
- Then it is a question of time. The longer you leave it the more mature it gets and the more alcohol turns to vinegar. A minimum of 6 months is needed. The vinegar will be need to sit in the bottles with the lid loose but not off (it needs oxygen, but open too much will allow mould to grow. )
Vinegar can take years to mature and just like wine, apparently improves with maturity.
Obviously if you see black mould growing or it smells bad, you've not managed to keep things clean enough, so it will need to be thrown. But the grated pear will go mid brown in the oxidised fruit look. That's fine, black mould however isn't.
These are the discs of mother in my current bottles.
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