Apple Cider Vinegar continued from last night,
Once the apple bits turn brown pop into a wide mouth jar
add 3 tsp of sugar give a good stir and
cover the top with some kitchen paper or muslin held on with an elastic band, it needs to breath and you need to keep pesky flies out, pop it somewhere warm and dark to ferment for about 6 weeks write it on the calendar so you don't forget it.
Then strain the liquid discard the apple, return the liquid to the jar and re-cover and put back in its hidy hole stir every few days for the next 2-4 weeks, taste it weekly once it reaches and acidity level you like bottle it and start to use.
Next my Blackberry fruit mix, left for a couple of hours the peaches soaked up the liquid and plumped up
I popped some bottling jars in the oven to sterilise and the lids into some boiling water, brought the mixture back to the boil
filled the jars, see on the jar above air pockets you want to get rid of those
use a knife or a lid lifter if you have one and slide it down the sides getting rid of the air pockets, fill the jars leaving about an inch head space, wipe around the edges of the jar with a damp cloth, you want to get a good seal
pop on the lids into a large pan with a t-towel at the bottom, make sure the jars are not touching each other or the sides, fill with boiling water you want the jars covered by about an inch and boil for 25 mins.
Lift out the jars they will be hot that is a jar lifter in the picture, place the hot jars on a towel and leave to cool, there we go a fruit filling for pies, crumbles what ever takes your fancy and its not taking up freezer space and will keep for a couple of years. I buy in new jars to do this I never re-use jars with lids for bottling. They are OK for jams or chutneys but not bottling, new lid every time to get a good seal.
I had some of the mixture left over so I used it in an upside down chocolate cake
I used this recipe Chocolate upside down cake its egg and dairy free
I halved the ingredients
It looks great and smells great Martin will let me know if it is any good.
I have done my bread baking as well today, I am not really a cake maker so that's me all baked out for a while.
Oh Dawn you clever clever person you. I would never of thought to make my own cider vinegar. I really will try that. Thank you x
ReplyDeleteDawn I am blown away by your energy and enthusiasm - these products look so appetising and nothing has gone to waste.
ReplyDeleteYou HAVE been busy. I like the idea of the Dairy-free cake. Will give that a try. I have some really good cider vinegar from the batch before last but the last one was very cloudy - probably bottled it too soon.
ReplyDeleteEveryone seems to be doing blackberry-inspired posts right now!
That cake looks delicious. I don't think Martin will have any complaints.
ReplyDeleteoh wow cake that looks delicious as it sounded before! Yummy! i adore those wee jars too :) xx
ReplyDeleteI will be making the vinegar, I get through lots of it in various pickles, I quite like it on chips too. The cake looks good, I will be trying that as well. Like you I am careful about reusing lids, they are cheap enough to buy and it is not worth taking any risks when preserving.
ReplyDeleteI had a go at making apple cider vinegar a couple of years ago but forgot about it until I had to empty that part of the kitchen out for renovation. By that time it had dried out in the jar! Had lots of apples given to me in August, dehydrated most of them, keeping the cores and peel for making cider vinegar again. Had a nice big bowl ready to get into the jar...... all looking good until I said to Lester that he could take the bruised apples out to the pigs. He did that, but also took the bowl of apple cores. Ah well, perhaps third time lucky!
ReplyDeleteI don't like water bath canning because of the amount of water which has to be heated up. I also worry about getting scalded. But I found useful info on the internet which said that canners can be used. So had a go with some apples and pears....... something like 10 mins at 5lbs pressure. Did not have my glasses on when I put the weight on the canner, so did 10 mins at 15 lbs pressure! Oh dear! But the jars came out alright, with the pears still in slices, but the apples were mushed down. Anyway, no more water bath canning for me!
You have inspired us to make some cakes this week. We made bread yesterday. You can't beat homemade food.
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