Manky apples

(How to make some pretty good vinegar)

Manky apples: we’ve all had em. If they are bug destroyed, purchased and left in your fruit bowl, or the remnants of a huge haul that you have tried to eat your way through, I’m sure you have seen some manky apples in your time.

In my case, my apple tree overhangs the concrete path, and the wind whips off apples, smashing them on the concrete. Or, more commonly, I am asked to consult on a job where the apples are full of codlin moth and rendered inedible.

I used to make cider- something extremely easy, too, which I can write on some other time- but I don’t really drink alcohol (a famous lightweight, about half of a beer will have me asleep on the couch), and neither do many of my friends.

What I do go through a LOT of, though, is vinegar. Vinegar for cleaning house, cleaning tools when they have cut something diseased, adding to food (and more recently, killing weeds). So, here is a good use for your manky apples (assuming you don’t want to cut the good bits off and then make cider).

Easy ‘apple scrap’ vinegar

This is a great use of old apples in the fruit bowl; half eaten apples from a lunchbox; windfall apples. It gives you a good mild vinegar, but remember the golden rule-

The more sugar in your vinegar, the more acidic it will eventually become.

So if your apples, like many at this time of year, are not very sweet (you could almost say- unripe), you can still use them and add some cane sugar, or you can make some weaker vinegar. Personally I am using my windfall (fallen due to wind, not ripeness) apples from the time they are vaguely edible (not sweet and delicious, but definitely getting ripe). The thing I find is that the first few vinegars you make are a bit low acid, lowering everyone’s expectations- so don’t be afraid to whack in a bit of sugar if your apples are less-than sweet.