My love of DIY knows no bounds. I feel I must try everything once, and if it calls to me, I keep it in my rotations.
Apple picking is a yearly tradition for me and sometimes my family. The main thing I make is applesauce. I’ve been reading so many blogs and fermentation books, and have come across homemade vinegar from apple scraps. Clearly, I had plenty of apple scraps so I stuck them in a clean glass jar.
I filled the jar with filtered water and mixed in approximately 2 – 3 Tablespoons of sugar. I placed this little diy linen hat I made for my sourdough or my ginger bug (not sure of its original intention) and have found plenty of other uses for since then.
I stirred the mixture every time I remembered, which was only about twice daily and saw it become a bit foamy and bubbly. I waited until it was no longer bubbly. Then I strained the mixture, which took a surprising amount of time, then bottled the liquid into my old apple cider vinegar bottle. How appropriate!
I still think I need to strain it again because there is quite a bit of debris in there. However, it does smell like vinegar so I think it worked! I’ll dilute it for my hair rinse in the shower.
Peace and love,
Kristan
Suffused Supper 
We use apple peels and cores left from apple sauce for pectin extract to add to peach or apricot for jam. It is probably better without the seeds in the cores, but oh well. It what we have. There are so many wasted apples from the abandoned orchard that vinegar would be a practical use for them, as well as the cores.
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That’s great! How do you get and store the pectin? I would much rather use fruit with naturally occurring pectin or make it myself than buy it in a plastic pouch.
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It isn’t pretty. We simmer the peels and cores (or just peels if you have enough). Most of the pectin is in the peels and cores anyway. After they are cooked, they get strained through a bag, as if making jelly. Then, the juice gets simmered to cook off some of the water. Eventually, it gets quite concentrated into a really unappealing transparent goo, sort of like what comes out of the pouches, but not as thick. We then can it in small four ounce jars, or half pint jars to be used the following spring and summer when the soft fruits ripen. It is probably better to add sugar, but then you need to keep track of how much sugar is in it when using it for recipes later. Crabapples and quince both have even more pectin in them, but they are also more flavorful. So, if added to apricot, it makes apricot and crabapple jam, or apricot and quince jam. I mean you can really taste the crabapple or quince. Besides, crabapples and quince are useful for other better things. I like to use the apple peels and cores because they are useless for anything else, and have less flavor to interfere with the apricots and peaches. I am sorry for the long reply.
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