Recipe for homemade elderberry vinegar that is enzyme and probiotic rich for all your detoxification, cooking, and medicinal needs.
Are you familiar with the benefits of homemade elderberry syrup? If so, I have a new recipe to share with you that adds probiotics and enzymes to the mix. All you have to do is ferment the elderberry juice into a light tasting vinegar!
Elderberry vinegar tastes wonderful blended with extra virgin olive oil to top a salad or to stir into a glass of water as a digestive aid after a heavy meal.
The flavor is tangy, sweet, and rich. It is a nice change from undiluted balsamic vinegar. It is less expensive too!
You may use the juice from dried elderberries or fresh elderberries for the base blended with raw honey and apple cider vinegar with the mother as the starter. That’s all there is to it!
I don’t recommend trying to ferment processed elderberry juice from the store into vinegar as the risk of mold is high.
However, you may find as the vinegar is fermenting that a thin white film or foamy spots of kahm yeast form on top. This is not mold and isn’t a concern. When the vinegar is ready, simply skim it off. However, if you wish to prevent this problem, the following steps will help.
- Keep the temperature of the home below 75 °F/ 23 °C throughout the fermentation period. Too warm of a temperature encourages kahm yeast to form.
- Use a fermenting jar with an airlock lid to prevent the culturing elderberry juice from being overexposed to oxygen.
Elderberry Vinegar
Easy recipe for making homemade elderberry vinegar that is enzyme and probiotic rich for all your detoxification, cooking, and medicinal needs.
Ingredients
- 3 cups dried elderberries
- 6 cups filtered water
- 1.5 cups raw honey
- 1 cup raw apple cider vinegar
Equipment
Instructions
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Place dried elderberries and filtered water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer on medium-low for 30 minutes. The liquid will reduce by about one-third.
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Remove pan from heat and mash the elderberries to release any remaining juice.
Strain the mixture into a glass bowl using a cheesecloth (I use these). Let cool to room temperature.
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Stir in the raw honey with the raw apple cider vinegar in the half gallon mason jar until fully dissolved.
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Top up with elderberry juice from cooked/strained elderberries. Mix well.
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Cover the top of the glass jar with cheesecloth, a thin white dishtowel or floursack cloth and secure with a large rubber band.
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Leave on the counter in an out of the way spot to allow the transformation into acetic acid. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, this can take anywhere from 1-3 weeks.
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When you start to see bubbles forming on top after about 1 week, start tasting the elderberry vinegar to determine if it is ready. Leave on the counter covered with a cheesecloth/rubberband and continue tasting until the vinegar has the strength you desire.
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When it has the right level of vinegar taste for you, seal it tightly with a lid. If you accidentally leave it too long and the taste is too strong, just strain and dilute with some water to a level of acidity that pleases you.
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Use as desired and store in a dark pantry out of direct light.
Recipe Notes
If using fresh elderberries, use twice the amount of dried berries and juice them, discarding the pulp.
I made this along with other recipes for elderberry vinegar sans probiotic. This mixture set in a mason jar with air lock for months (harvested in September) It just tasted more like elderberry koolaid than vinegar-good but not acidic enough for vinegar. I finally put it into a new and disinfected wine bottle with plastic screw on lid. Had the (mother) and I went ahead and added it to the bottle. When I got around to open it (about 7 days later ) it made the sound of opening a carbonated soda and it fizzed a little in the bottle! It tastes very good-between wine and a very mild vinegar. I love it, but what happened, and what is it? Is it safe to drink, please say yes!
I appreciate very much the recipe for Elderberry Vinegar and your website! However, I am only able to get frozen Elderberries from Maine farmers. I was wondering if you would help me find out how much I can use of the frozen elderberries for this recipe? Crossing my fingers! Thank you very much!
Treat the frozen ones after they are thawed like fresh … the substitution is indicated in the recipe under the “recipe notes” section.
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