Ahuvi’s (my love’s) parents have an apple tree in their yard with Anna apples. Not my favorite variety but I saw a tree full of apples that were not going to be eaten and I felt I had to do something!
Awhile back I made a fermented apple drink using a natural Apple concentrate. This time I decided to try it with freshly squeezed apple juice.
I took my kids and we all had a great time picking apples and visiting with the grandparents. We filled up three big shopping bags of apples.
I borrowed a juicer from my sister and got to work, washing, slicing, juicing and cleaning.
I took the pulp and I decided to ferment that as well to make apple cider vinegar, I even had some pulp left over to feed the worms.
I added some plums I had that was getting soft.
I ended up with two jars side by side fermenting in the kitchen, a fizzy apple juice (we call it apple schpritz) and apple cider vinegar.
This is the spritz fermenting…
Fermented Apple Juice:
8 cups freshly squeezed apple juice (works fine with juice from concentrate as well)
¼ cup whey (learn how to make whey here)
a pinch of salt
Mix the ingredients in a sterilized glass jar. Cover with a cloth and fasten with a rubber band (otherwise it is a very labor-intensive ants trap) and allow to ferment for two to three days. Stir daily and remove from the top is the juice.
Distribute into tightly sealed bottles and ferment for another day (make sure to burp your bottles so they don’t accidentally explode from the pressure build-up) and place in the fridge.
Apple Cider Vinegar:
Pulp and cores of two dozen apples
¼ cup unpasteurized apple cider vinegar
Purified water
Put pulps and cores in a sterilized glass jar. Cover with water and vinegar. Put a weight on the pulp to hold it down so it will remain submerged in the water. Allow fermenting for four to six weeks. When the flavor is to your liking strain and store.
