Vinegar is a product of fermentation, a process where sugars in food are broken down by bacteria and yeast. In the first stage of fermentation, sugars are turned into alcohol. Then, if the alcohol ferments further, it converts vinegar.Acetic acid is the main ingredient of all vinegars, including apple cider vinegar. Vinegar’s other ingredients can include:
- Vitamins
- Minerals and mineral salts
- Amino acids
- Other acids
- Other ingredients for flavoring or color
Found in both the condiment and health supplement section of your grocery store, apple cider vinegar can be used for many purposes and can relieve just about any ailment you can think of.
Variations
It is important to understand the differences between apple cider vinegar and regular distilled vinegar.
White distilled vinegar is 100% acidic. Apple cider vinegar has a much higher pH level than white distilled vinegar and other kinds of vinegars, such as brown rice vinegar, plum vinegar, etc.
Rice vinegar and plum vinegar are also better sources of vinegar than regular white distilled vinegar. But again, apple cider vinegar is the BEST!
Characteristics
If you must use vinegar for food preparation, by all means opt for apple cider vinegar. Don’t be frightened by the murky brown sediment sometimes found at the bottom of the bottle. This just means that the apple cider vinegar is raw and contains living nutrients and bacteria that are beneficial to your health.
White distilled vinegar is stripped of the natural fermentation and can actually be detrimental to your health because its ingredients are dead rather than alive.
Benefits
Apple cider vinegar can be used to restore alkaline acid balance. Even though it is an acidic solution, some of its ingredients can cause one’s pH levels to become more alkaline.
A high pH level and alkaline foods have been shown to increase oxygen levels in our arteries and prevent the degeneration of cells.
Apple cider vinegar has a pH of 4.5. It was even used by the father of Western medicine, Hippocrates, who reportedly used apple cider vinegar for healing and cleansing purposes. Apple cider vinegar is a great natural source of potassium (apples are rich in potassium).
A teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of room temperature water every morning will help prevent joints from aching. It’s a great tonic in preventing and healing arthritis and tendonitis.
Apple cider vinegar helps the body eliminate harmful toxic waste (due to its malic acid content), helps remedy sore throat and laryngitis, strengthens the heart, help prevent muscle soreness and aching joints, improves digestion, helps dissolves calculi (kidney, bladder, and gall stones), helps dissolve mucus accumulation in the body, aids the body in fasting due to its nutritional value and content (potassium, copper, iron, fluorine, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, etc.); helps keep arteries soften, and a plethora of other beneficial actions that greatly benefit the body.
Apple cider vinegar is beneficial to hair and can be used for irritating scalp conditions because of its healthy acidic level. It’s believed that the high acidity (organic malic acid) plus powerful enzymes (life chemicals) in apple cider vinegar kill the bottle bacillus, a germ responsible for many scalp and hair conditions. Apple cider vinegar also helps to restore the proper acid/alkaline balance to scalp.
