To preserve the golden light of autumn to enjoy later during holiday celebration; make a raw fruit vinegar now to enjoy by early winter.
This low-tech, mostly passive, method for making vinegar requires about one month to complete. Active working time is only about one- hour. The vinegar can be aged for longer, if you choose.
Part A: Make a simple fruit wine:
I’m loosely following the NOMA: Guide to Fermentation method: Culturing the fruit mash with a brewer’s yeast such as Saison (brettanomyces / sacharromyces cerevisiae). I used water kefir which has sacharromyces among other yeast strains.
This is different than a wild ferment because we are employing existing cultures to get the fermentation going. I’ve had success brewing vinegar with a wild fermentation process too. So this batch is a test run to see what else the water kefir culture can achieve.
Method: 1. Rinse and core the fruit. Remove seeds. Chop into small chunks. Put in blender. 2. Add about 20% water kefir by volume to fruit mash and blend. 3. Pour fruit mash/water kefir into a clean fermentation vessel with room to expand. 4. Seal with burp lock. 5. Leave to ferment for 7-10 days. Stir and check daily. 6. It will be ready for Part B when it has turned from fruit mash to fruit wine. 7. You’ll know it’s ready when it is less fruity and more boozy.
Part B. Will be turning alcohol to vinegar... Resources:
1. Redzepi René, et al. The Noma Guide to Fermentation. Artisan, 2018.