Made fire cider for the first time three weeks ago. Horseradish, ginger, garlic, onion, chillies and orange in raw cider vinegar, shaken most days. It has gone properly murky with a thick layer of sediment, and there is a jelly-like disc floating near the top.
It smells sharp and spicy and right. But the disc is unsettling and I grated everything rather than chopping it. Have I got a problem or is this what it looks like?
That is what it looks like, and the disc is a vinegar mother: a gelatinous layer of cellulose and the bacteria that make vinegar, which forms in raw unfiltered vinegar. Odd looking, entirely normal. Strain it out or leave it, most people strain through cheesecloth before bottling.
The murk has four sources all working at once. Raw vinegar is cloudy to begin with, the roots release starches and fibres, honey clouds it further if you add any, and citrus pulp and oils do the rest.
Does grating rather than chopping make a difference worth changing next year?
@above_the_vinegar · 4h ago
The actual failure mode in fire cider is almost always ingredients poking up above the liquid, which is where mould gets a foothold. So keep everything fully submerged and push it back down when you shake it.
Bin it for fuzzy mould on the surface or on anything sticking out, coloured spots in green, black or pink, or a rotten smell instead of sharp and spicy. Yours smells right, which is the test that matters most.
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