Apple cider vinegar has been around for years.
It is made up of just one simple ingredient: apples. They are fermented to create a strong-smelling, slightly sour yet fruity-tasting liquid which can be used in a number of inventive ways. Flavour your food or pour a few drops into your favourite drink and enjoy the delicious, unique taste. Raw, natural, and vegan-friendly, it also has several health benefits.
What is apple cider vinegar?
Apple cider vinegar is made from apples and water. The juice from the apples is fermented into raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar and then usually a cloudy substance known as the ‘mother’ is added. The ‘mother’ is made up of proteins, enzymes and probiotics - good gut-friendly bacteria.
How to drink apple cider vinegar
You can add apple cider vinegar into your cooking in a number of ways – mix into dressings, chutneys, sauces; or use for pickling or marinading. You can also add to drinks – just pop a few drops into your favourite smoothie or juice, or add a couple of tablespoons to a glass of water and sip away.
Is apple cider vinegar good for you? What is apple cider vinegar good for?
Apple cider vinegar has many health benefits – not all proven but many people swear by it. Below are a few…
- Aids digestion: Apple cider vinegar contains gut-friendly bacteria known as probiotics which are great at keeping the digestive system working properly. It can also help reduce bloating.
- Lowers blood sugar levels: The vinegar contains acetic acid which has been shown to lower blood sugar in some cases.
- Improves cardiovascular health: The vinegar can help lower triglycerides which causes fat around the arteries to build up. Cholesterol can also be lowered as a result of the pectin in the apples (it neutralises bad cholesterol), reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Does apple cider vinegar help with weight loss?
It’s not guaranteed, but apple cider vinegar can often make people feel fuller and therefore help reduce calorie intake as a result. Paired with lowered blood sugar levels, this could lead to weight loss.
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Willy’s Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
Add to your morning smoothie or mix into your favourite salad dressing and savour the 48 different apple varieties packed into Willy’s punchy apple cider vinegar.
The apples are grown in 300-year-old orchards to create a lovely organic, raw, unpasteurised and naturally fermented apple cider vinegar with real live ‘mother’, which is hand-crafted on the brand’s Herefordshire farm. Get your hands on this probiotic goodness fast.
Buy now £14.48, Amazon
Eat Wholesome Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
This artisan bottle is made from handpicked, cold-pressed apples. Unfiltered and unpasteurised, it’s all-natural and comes packed with benefits. For an extra kick, it is also available with ginger, turmeric and chilli, or turmeric and cinnamon.
Buy now £5.25, Amazon
Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar
Delicious in dressings, as a drink or simply drizzled over certain foods, Braggs’ vinegar is full of zesty flavour and natural goodness. It’s made from the finest organic apples and contains ‘mother’, providing a wholesome vinegar with health benefits like improving cardiovascular health and aiding digestion.
Buy now £7.10, Amazon
OSU Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
OSU has spent 200 years expertly crafting and perfecting vinegars in Japan. This original vinegar has been blended with 100 per cent natural apple juice and the ‘mother’ to bring an enjoyable balance of sweetness and tanginess, with a smooth taste in the mouth. Free from artificial flavourings, preservatives and colourings, it is also presented in a pretty bottle to stand out in your kitchen.
Buy now £7.50, Sainsbury's
Ostler's Cloudy Cider Vinegar
Ostler’s family-run orchard and cider mill in Devon has been creating award-winning cider vinegar since 1989. Naturally made from freshly crushed apples complete with the ‘mother’, the vinegar provides powerful enzymes and gut-friendly bacteria in a rich but smooth flavour.
Buy now £7.41, Amazon
Aspall Raw Organic Apple Cyder Vinegar
A well-known brand found in many family kitchens, Aspall’s apple cyder vinegar has matured over time to produce a lovely delicate flavour. Crisp and light, it can be used as a marinade, dressing or during the cooking process. It has one of the most appetising tastes on the list and of course, comes complete with gut-friendly benefits. It is unfiltered and contains the vinegar-fermenting bacteria ‘mother’.
Buy now £3.50, Sainsbury’s
Tree Of Life Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
Organically grown, cold-pressed Spanish apples make up Tree of Life’s cider vinegar. Full of fruity flavour and containing the ‘mother’, mix into a glass of water with honey, or stir into dressings and sauces to give your dishes a health kick.
Buy now £2.30, ASDA
Biona Organic Cider Vinegar
For a tangy yet sweet fruity taste, try Biona’s cider vinegar – in marinades, drinks or just as it is. The naturally healthy ingredients with the ‘mother’ are pure and unfiltered so offer several health benefits too.
Buy now £2.65, Amazon
Raw Health Raw Organic Cider Vinegar
Raw Health believes in ‘vibrant living’ as you can tell from the colourful bottle alone. But the real goodness starts, once you taste the contents. It is an aromatic vinegar that is brimming with valuable enzymes and health benefits from the ‘mother’, along with a lovely fruity flavour from the pressed organic apples. It’s sustainably sourced too.
Buy now £2.89, Ocado
Garden of England Apple Cider Vinegar
Using the juice of whole, naturally grown apples sourced from Kent orchards, this cider vinegar is 100 per cent natural as well as unpasteurised and unfiltered. Picked by hand and blended with the ‘mother’, drizzle over dishes, add to water or marinate away for delicious flavour. The glass bottle is great to reuse.
Buy now £12.40, Amazon
Daylesford Organic Cider Apple Vinegar
Luxurious and organic, Daylesford’s Cider Apple Vinegar may have a name which is the wrong way round, but it certainly tastes right. Unpasteurised to maintain natural enzymes and nutrients, the vinegar has been pressed from heritage apples grown in biodynamic orchards near Nantes, France.
Buy now £4.30, Ocado
Manuka Doctor Apple cider vinegar with manuka honey, turmeric and long pepper 500ml
Twice the price but twice as nice. Though Manuka Doctor’s signature apple cider vinegar may be expensive, it’s packed with additional health-boosting ingredients including the eponymous liquid gold, manuka honey. The 500ml bottle is “with the mother” vinegar - which means the existing mother bacteria hasn’t been killed in pasteurisation. With a whopping 67 per cent New Zealand manuka honey, 30 per cent organic turmeric and one per cent organic long pepper, there won’t be too much kick, but you’ll certainly have a spring in your step.
Buy now £19.99, Selfridges
