September 18, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I started my first batch of apple-scrap vinegar yesterday. We had a bunch of mushy apples and Mr. Plastic Picker asked me the day before if I could make apple sauce. If you know us in real life, this is a earth-shattering request. My children and other people eat my cooking. My son’s good friend once complimented me on my breaded chicken. But my husband wanders around the kitchen foraging on his own. The more I’ve been cooking plant-based, the more he is eating. He asked for apple sauce and he used to buy so many of those prepared apple sauces in <5> plastic. Since we’ve started going less plastic, he eats more apples but I think he misses those processed apple sauces. He actually says mine is better.

Yesterday I made my second bath of apple sauce and it was delicious and I found a faster way.

DR. PLASTIC PICKER APPLE SAUCE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• Mushy apples (I used 6 small ones yesterday)
• 1 cup of water
• Two tablespoons of white sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS

• Wash apples well (hopefully you bought organic so you can use the peels for the next apple-scrap vinegar recipe)
• Peel and core the apples (save this for the next recipe)
• Cut apples in little pieces. I’m lazy so I just cut them in random pieces. After you make this recipe a few times, you’ll realize what sizes you like.
• Put apples and water in the appropriate sized pot.
• Turn on the stove and you just cook them down. About 20 minutes to soften the apples. As the water is evaporated, just add a bit more.
• Toward the end I add the sugar and cinnamon (really you can do this anytime you want and can omit or be creative at this point).
• The apples will just be mushy and kind of cooked.
• Put them in a hand blender, and semi-puree or blend them. And that is in, apple sauce! I sprinkled a bit of coconut flakes on them!

Both times I’ve made them, they disappeared rapidly into the GI tract of my husband and children. I was so happy that they were getting fiber. It was so good that it was actually our desert and then starter. Seriously, homemade apple sauce is really really really good. One of my Instagram litter picking friends says that it’s good to store. Next time, I’m going to make a bigger batch and store some in the freezer so I can bake with it. My sister (who is a phenomenol cook) told me apple sauce is a good substitute for butter and milk in vegan baking. I will never look at mushy apples the same way!

NOW. APPLE-SCRAP VINEGAR

Okay this is a work in progress. I wanted to decrease our plastic use and need more apple vinegar. I saw this again on one of my instagram friends. There are a bunch of online recipes and I think this one was really good to read. This was an excellent on-line article on how to make apple-scrap vinegar https://practicalselfreliance.com/how-to-make-apple-scrap-vinegar/ In general here is the process that I followed to begin with. This is more notes for myself, so please check out more professional sites as you have to make sure you don’t get bacterial contamination.

INGREDIENTS

• Two 500L Reused and Cleaned Glass Containers, I used two Nestcafe ones that we have a gazillion of them
• Filtered Water (500L) – essentially two water small 250ml water bottles. We stopped buying bottled water but it’s importnat to have non-chlorinated water. So either used filtered water, water bottle, are leave out tap water overnight so the chlorine can dissapate.
• Apple Scraps: Split my apple scraps into 2 even batches from the 6 peeled apples
• 4 tablespoons white sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Dissolve sugar into water
2. Add in apple scraps (apple cores and/or apple peels), make sure they get fully submerged. Keeping everything submerged will prevent mold. Cover with a thin cloth and an elastic band. I reused an old clean bandana.
3. Stir 3-4 times a day, with a wooden spatula, for about 1 week until bubbly.
4. Once bubbly, stir once a day for about 1-2 weeks until all the bubbles are gone. 
5. Strain out scraps.
6. Put in your favorite jars (maybe tomato sauce jars)

I’m bascially at the beginning of the 4-6 week fermentation process right now. I will update this post with how the vinegar turns out. I’m storing it underneath one of my cabinets that I used to store disposable cutlery. Since we don’t use single-use plastic cutlery anymore, I have room in my life for apple-scrap vinegar process. I covered it with thin cardboard that my son’s favorite carbonated water comes in. He drinks them but at least its aluminum cans and we recycle them all.

So excited to see how the vinegar turns out. I think it will be great. I can use it for cooking and baking. Also it actually can be used to condition my hair, and as a cleaner as well! I’ll let you know!