What is Apple Cider Vinegar?

Vinegar is one of the greatest gifts nature has provided for mankind.  Any alcohol beverage, regardless of what it is created form, when exposed to air naturally turns into vinegar due to the ever-present bacteria in the air.

Apple cider vinegar is a type of vinegar created by fermenting apples through a two stage process.  Through the first stage of fermentation, hard apple cider created.  During the second stage, sugar is further broken down by yeast and bacteria producing alcohol and finally into vinegar.  The fermentation of organic apples is the crucial for the realization of the numerous health benefits.  Food that has been fermented typically is composed of a higher nutrient content, specifically enzymes, which is what makes consuming “live foods” beneficial.

Traditionally vinegar can has been made from fruits, vegetables, and grains; apple cider vinegar is produced using pulverized apples.  Similar to other varieties of vinegar, the main ingredient of apple cider vinegar is acetic acid.  Apple cider vinegar is also made up of other acids including lactic, citric, and malic acid.  Apple cider vinegar also boasts an array of vitamins, mineral salts, and amino acids.

Historical Uses of Vinegar

For centuries vinegar has been used by peoples from from all over the world in different ways.

-In about 5000 BC, towards the beginning of recorded history, the fruit of the date palm was used by the Babylonians to make wine and vinegar.  Vinegar was then used as food and a preservative or pickling agent.

-Vinegar residue has been found in the urns of people from ancient Egypt and traced to back to at least 3000 BC.

-In China, the making of rice vinegar goes back 3000 years, while the Japanese samurai believed that drinking a rice vinegar would make him to be strong, and he and those around him were drinking it regularly.

-In ancient Rome around 1000 BC, different vinegar types were made from dates, wine, figs and other fruits, placing them in bowls for the bread dunking.

-Around 400 BC in ancient Greece, Hippocrates, believed to be the father of modern medicine, prescribed a mixture of honey and apple cider vinegar for treating health conditions such as colds and coughs.

-In 218 BC the Carthaginian general Hannibal put the dissolving power of vinegar to use when he crossed the Alps with elephants to invade Italy. He had to pour vinegar over hot boulders to crumble them so that his troops could march through.

-Between 1601 and 1643, Louis XIII of France bought than 1 million francs worth of vinegar to cool the cannons of his army during battles. In addition to cooling them, vinegar, when applied to the hot iron cannons, helped in cleaning the surface metal while preventing the formation of rust.

Present-day uses of Apple Cider Vinegar

The use of vinegar over the centuries has motivated researchers to look at more ways of exploring the drink to benefit human beings.  Good digestion is considered by most as essential for overall good total body health, apple cider vinegar helps in digestion by stimulating the acid in the stomach, making protein and fats to be digested.

Vinegar can also help by balancing the effects of consuming acidic foods and beverages.  Although the kidneys naturally excrete hydrogen ions and reabsorbs bicarbonate in urine to help naturally balance out our pH, it can be beneficial to help provide our kidneys with assistance in this process.  It is necessary for the body to be slightly alkaline, but with poor lifestyle and dieting habits, attaining the right balance, making the blood not to have the right composition. Thus, illness sets in as the blood becomes acidic. With the help of apple cider vinegar, the body’s pH can be restored. Apple cider vinegar can also help in stopping sugar cravings, as it produces the same taste.

It can also help in promoting the growth of healthy microflora, as it is a prebiotic feeding probiotics, the healthy microflora in the body.

 

Is all apple cider vinegar the same?

Not all apple cider vinegar is created equal! If you have ventured into your local grocery or health food store you have probably found yourself faced with a choice between many different brands and consistencies. There are three kinds of vinegar which are generally used in this country, Apple Cider, white distilled vinegar, and wine vinegar, which is commonly used as a condiment in Latin countries. White vinegar and wine vinegar are predominantly rich in Acetic Acid, which is particularly destructive to the body. It rapidly destroys red blood corpuscles resulting in anemia, interferes with the digestive processes retarding them and preventing the proper assimilation of food, and has been known to be a contributing factor in causing hardening of the liver (cirrhosis of the liver), duodenal and other intestinal ulcers. Apple cider vinegar on the other hand is made from whole apples and not diluted, contains the constructive malic acid, an ingredient needed in the digestive processes. Malic acid is a constructive acid which combines with alkaline elements and minerals in the body to produce energy or to be stored in the system as glycogen for future use.

The best and only apple cider vinegar to use is the one that contains “the mother”. “The mother” is a gelatinous substance that occurs naturally as connected strand-like chains of protein enzyme molecules, which is formed during the second fermentation stage. This murky brown substance can usually be found as sediment towards the bottom of the bottle. This sediment is exactly what you want as it contains the living nutrients, enzymes, and bacteria. The other apple cider vinegars you may come across have been highly processed and refined, thereby destroying the nutrients. Here are a few of the terms you may find on a label:

– Distilled – is the physical separation of substances in a liquid

– Filtered – is the separating of solids from liquid

– Pasteurized – is the heating to kill germs

– Refined – is the removing of substances and nutrients

Therefore, the only type of apple cider vinegar to use is the one made from whole organic apples, which are:

– Organically Grown (Chemical / Preservative Free)

– Raw

– Cold Pressed

– Unfiltered

– Unpastuerized

– With “The Mother”

 

Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar

“Braggs Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar“ with “The Mother” is the #1 food I recommend to maintain the body’s vital acid-alkaline balance, plus digestion. – Gabriel Cousins, M.D., Author, Conscious Eating

Here are just a few of the many benefits of apple cider vinegar:

– Helps promote a youthful skin and vibrant healthy body

– Helps remove artery plaque and body toxins

– Helps fight germs, viruses, bacteria, and mold naturally

– Helps retard old age onset in humans, pets, and farm animals

– Helps regulate calcium metabolism

– Helps keep blood the right consistency

– Helps regulate women’s menstruation (including excessive bleeding in menstrual cycles), relieves PMS, and UTI

– Helps normalize urine pH, relieving frequent urge to urinate

– Helps digestion, assimilation, and balances the pH

– Helps relieve sore throats, laryngitis, throat tickles, and cleans out throat and gum toxins

– Helps detox the body so sinus, asthma, and flu sufferers can breathe easier and more normally

– Helps banish acne, athlete’s foot, soothes burns, and sunburns

– Helps prevent itching scalp, baldness, dry hair and banishes dandruff, rashes, and shingles

– Helps fight arthritis and removes crystals (aids those dealing with gout) and toxins from joints, tissues, organs, and entire body

– Helps control and normalize body weight

–  Helps control acid flux (GERD)

– Helps build/store body reserves and achieve harmony and calm due to its extraordinary potassium content

– Helps shrink varicose and “bulging” veins

Additional Uses of Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar also shines in its versatility for use around the home and even with your pets. Here are a few additional uses of apple cider vinegar, some which may even surprise you. I have personally saved time and money by having apple cider vinegar on hand when something presents itself.

Cleaning: Mix 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar with 1 cup water. You can use this mixture to clean bathroom tiles, kitchen surfaces, windows, glasses and mirrors. This mixture also works as a non-toxic disinfectant.

Flea Reduction: Rub apple cider vinegar onto your pet’s skin. Add a little bit of apple cider vinegar to their water. Spray apple cider vinegar, diluted 50 percent with water, onto your pets and onto your furniture to repel the presence of mosquitoes, fleas, ticks.