Please read the recipe notes.

Chop the fruit into small chunks.

Add the sugar and apples (or other fruit) to a 1-gallon glass jar.

Add water to the jar until full.

Add in a few tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar with the mother. This helps establish a good microbial community, and while it isn’t absolutely necessary to add I highly recommend it. If you’ve made vinegar before and have a vinegar mother, you can add it.

Stir the mixture until all the sugar is dissolved.

Place a cloth lid on the jar and secure with a rubber band.

Stir the mixture once or twice a day and allow to ferment at room temperature for three weeks. Don’t forget to stir it. I like to just do it first thing in the morning each day.

You should notice the mixture bubble within one week.

After three weeks of fermentation, strain out all the fruit pieces, replace the cloth lid and allow the mixture to ferment for 6 more weeks.

You will notice a vinegar mother form on the surface (it looks like a kombucha SCOBY but is very light in color). You can keep this to start your next batch of fruit vinegar.

After fermentation, bottle the vinegar and seal it with a solid lid. Store at room temperature in your pantry.