This easy ginger vinegar is mild and fragrant and is perfect for adding to salads and stir-fries. It's simple to make and is delicious. For those who are looking for a more palatable vinegar, give this ginger vinegar a try!
Add 2 cups of filtered water to a jar with a tablespoon of sugar and a tablespoon of grated or finely minced ginger.
Mix everything together and cover the jar with a cloth, held in place with a rubber band, to keep bugs and dust out. Leave to rest at room temperature for 24 hours.
The next day, add in another tablespoon of sugar and another tablespoon of ginger. (You can also add in a little water if you ever see that the mixture is too overrun with ginger.) Once again, mix everything together and cover it with a cloth. Leave it undisturbed for another 24 hours.
Repeat the previous step each day until you get an active ginger bug. You can tell that your ginger bug is active and ready when you start to see bubbles forming at the top and a white precipitate falling to the bottom. (This normally takes around 4-8 days.)
Once the ginger bug is ready, you can make sodas with it by mixing it with juice or mixes of water, flavoring, and sugar syrup and doing a second ferment in airtight bottles to build up carbonation.
To make vinegar, add the rest of the ginger, sugar, and water and stop feeding the ginger bug. Cover it with a cloth and allow it to ferment for several weeks. Over the next weeks, it will become more acidic and less sweet. It should also begin to form a cellulose mass on the surface. This is the vinegar mother.
Method 2
Mix together the sugar, ginger, and water in a large jar. Cover it with a cloth held in place with a rubber band. This helps keep out dust and insects. Leave it alone at room temperature.
For the first few days, remove the cloth and stir the mixture daily. This helps prevent mold from forming on any ginger that is floating on the surface. After about a week to ten days, when it begins to taste acidic, the mixture can be left alone.
Leave it to ferment at room temperature for several weeks, until you are happy with the acidity and flavor of the vinegar.
Filtering the vinegar
Once you are happy with the flavor and acidity of the vinegar, filter out the solids and bottle the ginger. It can be stored at room temperature or in the fridge.
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Notes
Nutritional information is calculated based on the ingredients, but not taking into account the fermentation process. As the bacteria and yeasts feed on the sugar, the resulting vinegar may have a slightly different nutritional profile. A mother forms more quickly using the ginger bug method. It also makes a milder, sweeter vinegar.
Making a new batch
To jump-start your next batch, add the mother and a small amount of vinegar from your first batch to more water, sugar, and ginger. Continue with either of the methods above.Another option is to do a sort of continuous vinegar brew by removing small amounts of vinegar and adding in more water, sugar, and ginger to keep the process going. This also keeps the vinegar sweeter and milder.