How to Make Vinegar
Make your own sawsawan at home!
The native vinegar has gone a long way, from being a home- consumption product to an export commodity. Common raw materials for making vinegar are cane sugar juice, coconut water or nipa sap. Aside from these pineapples, bananas, oranges, potatoes and sweet potatoes can also be fermented into vinegar. Waste peels and fruit cores can be put to good use as starting materials for vinegar.
Grid or crush the fruit, then boil in water of the same amount as ground flesh, peels and cores. Boil until soft, then strain the juice though a cheese cloth.
Add 1/4 (one fourth) pound of sugar for every liter of juice extracted from fruit peels and cores. Do not add sugar when using ripe fruit.
Add one-fourth of a cake of fresh yeast that has been well-broken up, for every liter of juice. Stir very well, and then place in earthenware or glass jars. Cover with a clean cloth and let the mixture stand for about two weeks.
After this period, separate the clear liquid from the sediment, Prepare fresh, unpasteurized vinegar, also called “mother vinegar” which is the white gummy mass that usually forms in vinegars. Add this to the liquid and mix very well. Cover the container with cloth, then allow to stand in a warm place until it has acquired a flavor strong enough for use. Filter the clear liquid, then bottle and cover tightly.