When you grow your own food at home, you will soon discover that there is far more you can do with that produce than just eat it. Homegrown produce – the things you grow in your polytunnel and elsewhere in your garden – can also be used for a range of other purposes, from cleaning your home to creating toiletries and beauty products. Apple cider vinegar is just one of the many useful products that you can create using fruits from your garden. In this article, we will discuss how to make this useful product, before exploring some of the many uses for home-made apple cider vinegar around your home.
How To Make Apple Cider Vinegar
You will need: a jar or jars, apples or apple cores, some cloth (or paper towels) and elastic bands or twine to cover and secure the tops of the jars, water, and sugar. Details of how to make your apple cider vinegar can be found in the article here. You will find that the process is easy and while it will take a while for the vinegar to form, you will not have to do too much, nor spend to much time and effort in making this extremely useful product.
Uses For Apple Cider Vinegar
Culinary Uses
Apple cider vinegar tastes great and can be used on salads, in juices and in a number of cooked recipes and in preserves such as pickles and chutneys. In cooked recipes, apple cider vinegar can help to create a deep and flavoursome sweet-and-sour flavour, without overwhelming the flavour the way a white vinegar could do. It is also great for your health.
Adding just a tablespoon a day of apple cider vinegar to your diet has been proven to help your health in a number of different ways. Organic, unfiltered apple cider vinegar contains a web of beneficial proteins, enzymes and friendly bacteria that can aid weight loss and improve digestion. It lowers blood sugar and aids in the alleviation of type two diabetes, reduces cholesterol and lowers your risk of heart disease.
Hair Washing
Apple vinegar can also be used in your hair care regime. You can wash your hair with a solution of water and bicarbonate of soda, and use the homemade apple cider vinegar as a conditioning rinse (diluted 1:3 with water). This can help to balance the pH of your hair and scalp and keep hair looking glossy and healthy.
Home Cleaning
Apple cider vinegar is not only good for cleaning your hair, it can also be used for many cleaning jobs around your home. It can cut through grease and grime and kill harmful bacteria just as effectively as the strong, toxic cleaners on the market.
Do you make your own apple vinegar? How do you use it around your home? Let us know in the comments below.
Elizabeth Waddington is a writer and green living consultant living in Scotland. Permaculture and sustainability are at the heart of everything she does, from designing gardens and farms around the world, to inspiring and facilitating positive change for small companies and individuals.
She also works on her own property, where she grows fruit and vegetables, keeps chickens and is working on the eco-renovation of an old stone barn.