Raw apple cider vinegar is a wonderful thing. If every household had a bucket of this on the go, the world would be a healthier, happier place.

It’s very expensive in the UK, and I once needed it in great volumes when I was ill (more about that later), so I learned how to make it. I’ve made three batches and all have come out great.

Equipment needed, in order of use:

1. Two 25 litre / 7 gallon fermenting buckets (£10/ $14) or similar food-grade plastic container

2. Length of wide elastic (cut it out of the waistband of a pair of old pyjamas)

3. A large square of fabric (muslin, jersey, cotton) to cover the bucket

4. Large plastic colander or sieve for the first straining

5. A yard of muslin or similar bandage-like material for the second straining

6. Plastic turkey baster or plastic sampling spoon

7. Plastic hose for syphoning, such as you would use for winemaking

8. Plastic funnel

9. Plastic ladle

10. A glass or plastic vessel big enough to store the Mother submerged under vinegar, until you next make vinegar

11. Glass bottles or demijohns to store the finished vinegar

12. Corks for the bottles, (£1.50 / $2 for 20 at homebrew shop), or recycled corks

NB: don’t use any equipment made of metal. The bacteria don’t like it.

Ingredients

1. A dustbin bag full of whole apples (find someone with an apple tree if you can)

2. A 1.5 kg bag of sugar (brown or white)

3. Tap water (if you have access to spring water, use this)

Method

Making the Cider

1. Chop the apples roughly into 1 inch cubes, seeds, cores, skin and all

2. Put them in the fermenting bucket

3. Empty the bag of sugar into the bucket

4. Top it up with water to the 25 litre / 7 gallon marker

5. Cover it with a piece of cloth, make sure the apples aren’t touching it

6. Secure cloth with elastic

7. Leave in a dark (must be dark) place at ambient temperature.

8. Stir daily. Very important. If you forget for one day it will forgive you, but any longer and the apples on the top will dry out and start to rot.

9. The liquid will start to fizz once it starts turning to alcohol.

10. After about 3 weeks you will have cider. The apples should go brown and start to sink. You will want a strong smell of cider, like you could easily get drunk on it. Taste it. If it still tastes “thin” and smells floral rather than alcoholic, leave it until it smells like really dirty cider that would give you a three-day hangover.

11. It will stop fizzing when it’s close to being done.

Straining the Cider

1. Strain the apples out of the cider liquid using a plastic colander or sieve. It’s easier and less messy to use a second bucket at this point.

The cider will be cloudy and have small bits in it that the sieve didn’t catch.

2. Filter the cider by stretching muslin over your original fermenting bucket and ladling or pouring the cider through it. If the muslin gets clogged up too much with apple purée, rinse it under the tap, wring it thoroughly and re-use.

3. When all of the cider has been filtered, cover the bucket with a fresh cloth and secure with elastic. This will protect it from fruit flies and let the cider breathe. Air turns cider into vinegar.

Leaving the Cider Alone

Leave the cloth-covered bucket for about 3 months undisturbed in the dark at ambient temperature. I keep my bucket in a kitchen cupboard. Don’t stir it or move it.

You will see the Mother form after a couple of days (clear or white), a thin film at first which grow thicker over time, and the whole thing will start to smell less like cider and more like vinegar.

Have a taste along the way using a plastic turkey baster, or a long plastic spoon, that way you will limit the damage to the Mother. You can slip the baster or spoon in at the side of the bucket. The Mother is the jelly-like layer of good bacteria that you want to be nice to. If it sinks at any time (this has happened to me) leave her be. A new mother will form.

After about 3 months, the vinegar should taste pretty strong like regular shop-bought vinegar. If it doesn’t, leave it longer. It’s best to wait until it’s up to strength, as that shows it has maximum good-bacteria content.

Bottling and Storing the Vinegar

1. Take the Mother out of the bucket using a plastic sieve, and store it in a glass vessel submerged in some of your vinegar. Cover the vessel with cloth so it can breathe, and then leave it in a dark place. The vinegar will evaporate, so check every now and then that it is still completely submerged.

You can add the Mother to the next vinegar batch (at the stage where you’ve filtered the cider for the second time, it will sink to the bottom). This will supercharge your next batch and it will take less time for your next cider to turn into vinegar. If you’re not going to make more vinegar, you can store it and snip it into pieces and occasionally put it in your dog’s food. They need good bacteria too.

2. I use a plastic ladle and plastic funnel to transfer the vinegar into bottles. It’s slower but disturbs the sediment less. If you’re intending to store it in bigger vessels like a demijohn, it’s quicker to use a plastic syphoning hose.

If you’re using a hose, stand the bucket on a chair so it’s higher than the vessel and your mouth, put your hose into the vinegar above the layer of sediment, and suck the end until the vinegar comes through. Then quickly place it in the vessel. You will know if it’s done because you will get a mouthful, it will preferably be so strong that it will make you gag.

3. Leave the last few inches of vinegar sediment, try not to disturb it as much as possible when ladling or hosing. Throw this away, or if you’re feeling conscientious, strain it through paper coffee filters.

4. I use recycled brown or green wine or beer bottles, they let light in the least. I buy plastic and cork stoppers from a home brew shop. Store vinegar in the dark, at ambient temperature.

You can also let the vinegar develop further while it’s in the bottle. If you want a darker, more viscous vinegar which is great for salad dressings, just cover the bottle with a small piece of cloth secured with an elastic band, rather than a stopper.

Never cook with raw vinegar, it will destroy the bacteria. If any website on how to make raw vinegar tells you to do all the steps above and then says “Pasteurise the vinegar” DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. Pasteurising vinegar kills the friendly bacteria that you worked for months to get.

Health Benefits: Personal Testimony

There are loads of sources that will tell you how great raw apple cider vinegar is. I prefer a shot twice a day mixed with water, first thing in the morning and last thing at night. You want to dilute it in water about the same strength as cordial. No it’s not nice, and when asked “Urrgh, vinegar, how can you do that?”, I have taken to responding that it probably tastes a lot better than chemotherapy.

Other people prefer to drink it all day in a more diluted “long drink”. I’m not a doctor so I’m not going to talk about cancer or make any claims, but it is safe to say it alkalises the body, which cancer definitely does not like.

I have personally experienced the alleviation of the following things:

Candida Albicans Overgrowth

I had a Candida Albicans overgrowth which is when a bad fungus takes over all your internal organs and grows there, poisoning you by perforating your gut, letting food and other nasties into your blood stream. Candida Albicans can take over your body if you are stressed and eat a lot of processed food, grains and sugar. Also, if you have thrush a lot, either in your mouth or down below, this is a sign of out of control Candida. Doctors may not link these symptoms or know about it. Mine tried prescribing anti-depressants and Gaviscon for my severe stomach pain and low mood, which I wasn’t keen on. I had stomach scans by nothing obvious showed up. That led me to research my collective symptoms. Candida overgrowth fit the bill.

The presence of Candida overgrowth can show in all sorts symptoms like depression, anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, hair loss/total loss of condition of hair, chronic fatigue, ocular dermatitis, a fungal skin rash, very painful joints and a “wheat belly”. I had the lot, I was in a very poor state. It can kill you as it grows in your body can lead to cancer, and needs to be taken very seriously.

If you notice a red rash like hives on your torso after showering, that is a symptom of Candida Albicans overgrowth. Also, a dry scaly rash in coin-sized blotches all over you. I experienced all of these symptoms. Terrifying, as I didn’t know what was happening to me, and why I had no emotional or physical juice left aged only 38.

If all this sounds horribly familiar, lay off the sugar, including fruit, processed food and booze immediately because that’s what it feeds on, and start on the cider vinegar. There are Candida diets to follow, and you should take the advice of a health food shop who will advise you on supplements and probiotics to take while you are fighting it. When it is dying, Candida releases a shitload of toxins, so you will need to protect your liver with Milk Thistle.

I am still fighting Candida and all of my symptoms have decreased a lot. My hair, which fell out, has now grown back in after two years and looks shiny again. No suicidal thoughts, no achy joints, good skin and a flattish stomach. I put a litre of vinegar in a warm shallow bath and get in it, if the fungal rash comes back, or I wipe it directly with a vinegar-soaked cotton pad. I cover my entire body with coconut oil after showering while my skin is still damp, because of its anti-fungal properties. I would definitely recommend giving up drinking alcohol and lessening refined carbohydrate consumption because of the sugar. I can get away with the odd pint of Guinness but anything like lager or cocktails is off-limits. I think Candida overgrowth is common but overlooked.

Ask me anything you like, I will be only too pleased to respond.

Haemorrhoids

A lovely subject, I know. It is my observation that if I get these occasionally it is because I’ve lapsed and have eaten too much sugar or had sugary lager. I definitely believe they’re related to excess sugar consumption.

If you get the occasional haemorrhoid, dip a large cotton pad in a cordial-strength solution of cider vinegar, and sit on the pad with a bath towel underneath for a few hours and let the air get to your bits. Change the pad every hour. They are gone, my friend, gone. Not just me but a few other people of my acquaintance who get them far worse than me.

Dandruff

Use a solution of warm water and apple cider vinegar to do a final rinse of your hair and scalp. You will smell like vinegar for a while but it will pass, and it’s better than flakes.

Indigestion

My husband was mainlining Rennies when I first met him, a box every couple of day. He started drinking a long drink of cider vinegar and now his acid reflux has gone. Acid to treat acid sounds counter-intuitive but it works. I’ve been telling everyone I know who suffers to try it and it’s working for them too.

Heat and Nappy Rash

Sometimes I get painful rash in my armpits if I’ve been cycling a lot, and this can happen to babies . Wipe yourself with a vinegar-soaked cotton pad and expose the area to air.