Coconut vinegar is fairly easy to make, it just takes a good amount of patience and understanding of the process.
In order to make vinegar, you must first make alcohol. After the alcohol has been created, the next step is to use a vinegar mother or SCOBY(Symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) to convert your alcohol into vinegar. You can help yourself greatly if you get a known, working mother to use with your vinegar. If you do not have access to a mother, that is OK. A mother can form from the wild yeast and bacteria in the air.
To create your own coconut vinegar from coconut water, please follow the simple steps listed below. If you are having trouble with creating your coconut vinegar, take a look at the tips section located below the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 quart coconut water
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vinegar mother
Instructions
- In a medium sized saucepan, heat the coconut water until it begins to steam. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar. (Heating is optional, it helps the sugar dissolve in the coconut water but is not necessary.)
- Continue mixing until the sugar has dissolved.
- Transfer the coconut water and sugar mixture into a glass container. Cover lightly and place the mixture out of sunlight.
- Let this sit until the liquid has turned to alcohol. This will take about one week.
- After the coconut water has turned to alcohol, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar mother, and place the container into an area where it can sit out of sunlight and undisturbed for 1-3 months until it has turned into coconut vinegar.
Tips for How to Make Coconut Vinegar
If your coconut water, or mother/SCOBY smells moldy or funky, discard the mixture and start again. If you notice visible mold, discard the mixture.Putting vinegar into the mixture can also help if you continue having problems with mold.
If your coconut water is not turning into coconut alcohol or coconut vinegar, check to make sure the coconut water has ample access to air. Covering or capping during the fermentation process will make it so that the coconut water cannot ferment. The ideal environment for making your coconut vinegar is warm, drafty, dark and somewhere is can sit undisturbed.
To test the acidity of your vinegar, pour out a small amount into a separate container and taste.
If your vinegar mother/SCOBY falls to the bottom of the jar, don’t panic, it will reform again at the top.
You can find vinegar mother at wine stores or health food stores. You want to use raw unheated vinegar so that your vinegar can use the SCOBY/mother in that vinegar to create your vinegar. (A good, readily found, raw, organic vinegar is Braggs apple cider vinegar.) This will also result in a new mother being grown on top of your vinegar that you can continue to use as long as it is healthy.
If you want to save your vinegar mother after the process is complete, place her in a lightly covered jar with some vinegar in it.
If you are going to use fresh coconut water, it will take about four mature coconuts to equal one quart of coconut water.
Can one use a kombucha scoby to set the coconut vinegar going?
I have not personally used a kombucha SCOBY, I have read that the two cultures are similar so you might be able to use it to get the vinegar started.
Alternatively, if you do not have any mother of vinegar, you could just let is sit and it can form a SCOBY from the natural yeast and bacteria in the air. Adding a SCOBY or vinegar mother simply helps to speed up the process.
Can I use xylitol instead of sugar?
What can I use coconut vinegar for?
Thanks
Xylitol has an anti-microbial effect due to the structure of the sugar molecules. In this case the process depends on bacteria to convert the alcohol to acetic acid. Xylitol would prevent the desired process from occurring.
The sugar is used to help turn the coconut water into alcohol. (The wild yeasts consume the sugar and turn it into alcohol during the first stage of fermentation.) I would not recommend using Xylitol instead of sugar for this recipe, the results might not be the same.
You can use coconut vinegar the same way you use any other vinegar: salad dressings, marinades, etc. It has a slight coconut flavor to it but other than that it’s pretty vinegary!
We are on the healthy Ketogenic lifestyle and I want to know how to make this without sugar (carbs!) May I use Stevia…or nust skip the “sweetening altogether?
Hi Janis,
To make vinegar, the fermentation process first changes the sweetened coconut water into alcohol, then that alcohol into vinegar. The more sugar, the higher the alcohol content and the higher the resulting acidity of the finished vinegar. Removing the sugar here will make the vinegar weaker as the process will only be able to work on the sugar present in the coconut water.
If you do not want to add sugar, you can still create coconut vinegar, it will just be less acidic than if you had added some.
I am unfamiliar with Stevia use in fermentation and do not know if it would process in the same way. My suggestion, if you feel up to experimenting, would be to try some with Stevia and some without. You should also make sure to test with PH strips to ensure you are creating a safe product.
Happy fermenting!
How about substitution of sugar for molasses?
Hello,
I have not tested it, feel free to give it a try and let us know how it goes.
Happy fermenting!
Hi, which coconut milk I can use? from tetrapack?
thank you
Hello,
For this recipe you want to use coconut water to make the vinegar.
If your coconut water is not from a raw source, you may want to include a pinch of quick yeast to get things started.
Happy fermenting!
Can i put some yeast in it? Before i put it in a jar?
You could, if your coconut water is raw, there should be no need for added yeast, however if it has been pasteurized, yeast would be helpful in getting the process started.
Happy fermenting!
If you have access to coconut water you should also have access to toddy which is the sap obtained from the un opened coconut flower.This makes super vinegar
shall i use matured coconut water to make this vinegar
Of course, happy fermenting!
My coconut vinegar is fermenting for a month now and it didn’t t turn into vinegar( I think because i didn’t put mother vinegar). What can I do to make it as a vinegar? And is it considered a wine since it tastes like wine?
Hello,
Without the presence of the vinegar mother’s culture the fermentation process will not continue past alcohol to make vinegar. You can try adding some mother to it to continue the process as long as nothing seems off with what you currently have.
Happy fermenting!
I have a little of the Goa coconut vinegar and want to make some more coconut vinegar can I use the Goa coconut vinegar which is mature one ? I love this vinegar to make some of my Indian dishes .
As long as the vinegar is raw and has active cultures, you should be able to use it to create more.
Happy fermenting!
I mean the Goa coconut vinegar as the mother vinegar?
Hello!
A member of my family left raw coconut water in a container for two weeks or so in the refrigerator. Now it tastes sour and smells like vinegar. So we now have coconut vinegar, right?
(We live in a warm place, about 80-85°F)
Hello,
Since the coconut water was not purposely fermented with a vinegar culture at room temperature, it would not be a good idea to consume it.
Adding in the vinegar culture ensures that the right bacteria and yeast are present to ferment the coconut water into vinegar. Also, fermenting at room temperature ensures that the good cultures we introduced are able to take hold and fight off anything else that may be present.
Fermentation without adding in known cultures could result in other less desirable bacteria and yeast taking control of the ferment.
Anything that spontaneously ferments is best not consumed as it could potentially contain harmful cultures.
Happy fermenting!
Hi coconut lover,
Can I make the coconut vinegar using coconut milk. ? If raw Coconut water is not available.
Regards,
Muneer
For vinegar you definitely want coconut water. If you have access to fresh coconuts, you can just pop one open and pour the water out to make your vinegar.
Happy fermenting!
I’ve seen the coconut water bottled and canned. Can I use this? Also, where would I get the mother? I’ve never seen it anywhere.
You will want to make sure the ingredients state that is only coconut water before using. Make sure it isn’t coconut milk otherwise you will wind up with something a bit different.
If you can’t find any in the store, you can work on creating your own mother from leftover alcohol.
Good luck and happy fermenting!
Can I use the mother culture from Grape vinagar to make my coconut vinagar?
By the way your site is fabulous, very informative. Thanks
As long as the mother is live and active you should be able to use it.
Thank you and happy fermenting!
Can I Use the mother culture from the Apple Cider Vinegar I am making presently
Yes, as long as it is alive and well it will work here too.
Happy Fermenting!