Top 10 Best Apple Cider Vinegar Brands 2023

Best apple cider vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is useful for a variety of different things. From personal care to cleaning around the house, it’s a versatile solution that deserves a spot in any kitchen pantry. In our article, we are going to identify the ten best apple cider vinegar brands currently available and cover their main benefits in greater detail.

Best Apple Cider Vinegar Brand Comparison Table

ProductPhotoAvailable Volume (Ounce)UnpasteurizedOrganicPackaging materialCheck Price
Bragg
Editor's Choice
Best Apple Cider Vinegar With Mother32 - 128YesYesGlass Check Price
KevalaKevala apple cider vinegar35YesYesGlass Check Price
Viva NaturalsBest Apple Cider Vinegar To Drink32YesYesGlass and Plastic Check Price
Eden FoodsBest Apple Cider Vinegar For Weight Loss16YesYesGlass Check Price
Spectrum NaturalsBest Raw Apple Cider Vinegar16YesYesGlass Check Price
Vermont VillageBest Apple Cider Vinegar For Skin128YesYesPlastic Check Price
Napa ValleyBest Apple Cider Vinegar For Health128YesYesPlastic Check Price
Trader Joe’sTrader Joe’s apple cider vinegar16NoYesGlass Check Price
Dynamic HealthBest Apple Cider Vinegar For Hair16 & 128YesYesPlastic Check Price
VitacostBest Organic Apple Cider Vinegar32YesYesGlass Check Price




Best Apple Cider Vinegar Buying Guide

Apple cider vinegar has many potential uses that can help improve your health and wellbeing. From helping with conditions like indigestion and heartburn to improving your hair’s texture and shine, it’s a very versatile option to consider.

To get the most out of it, there are several important things you should learn about it. We are going to cover those elements in this portion of our buying guide.

Apple Cider Vinegar With The Mother – What Does It Mean?

One of the most common things you will see on apple cider vinegar containers is with the mother. You may be asking yourself, what exactly is the mother?

The Mother is a blend of beneficial bacteria and acids that are responsible for turning apples into vinegar. It’s very similar to the probiotic bacteria that you will find in other fermented products like yogurt.

The mother is naturally present in all apple cider vinegar. However, it is often removed to provide a clearer product that is more appealing to the average consumer. Vinegar that contains the mother has a natural cloudy appearance that requires shaking to evenly distribute it.

Products that have removed the mother are often labeled as filtered. Unfortunately, removing the mother from the vinegar results in a product that lacks beneficial bacteria and useful acids.

What About Organic And Non-Organic?

Apple cider vinegar products that are certified organic cannot be made from apples that have been treated with synthetic compounds like pesticides. Organic also means that the product cannot be genetically modified or undergo invasive procedures like radiating treatments during processing. These same organic processing standards apply to the apple cider fermentation and bottling process as well.

While it is true that organic products will cost you more, you are avoiding a wide range of potentially damaging chemical concoctions. This is often worth the extra price to secure peace of mind knowing your product is manufactured in a safe and responsible manner.

See Also: How to Choose the Best Meal Prep Bag

Plastic Or Glass – The Benefits of Each

In addition to understanding the importance of the ingredients used in your apple cider vinegar, the packaging plays a big role too. Both package types have their own advantages and disadvantages to consider.

  1. With plastic, products are often slightly cheaper and are much lighter to carry around. They’re also less susceptible to accidental breakage during shipping.
  2. For glass bottles, they typically have much tighter lids that keep your product safe from harmful bacteria in the air. They are also safe for acidic compounds like vinegar since they don’t contain harmful chemicals like BPA.
Over time, BPA in plastic bottles can leach into vinegar as it sits and makes its way into your system when you consume it.

For both bottle types, they can usually be recycled at your local processing center in your town. With plastic bottles, they have a much larger negative impact on the environment when allowed to degrade in landfills.

Raw and Processed – What’s The Difference?

Another one of the most common things you will see on product packages is phrasing like raw and processed.

Raw apple cider vinegar is the most basic version that contains the largest amounts of beneficial bacteria, acidic compounds, and protein structures.

These product types often require refrigeration after opening to help preserve their quality and extend their shelf life.

On the other hand, processed products undergo a further step of refinement to improve their safety and make them last longer. The biggest way to determine if a product is processed is to see if it has been pasteurized.

The biggest drawback to the pasteurization process is that it kills the beneficial bacteria that is present in the mother. Even with unfiltered varieties, apple cider vinegar that has undergone pasteurization lacks the benefits of beneficial bacteria cultures.

Best Apple Cider Vinegar Brand Reviews

Bragg USDA Gluten FreeBest Apple Cider Vinegar With Mother – The Most Famous Brand

This is one of the highest quality apple cider vinegar brands you can find. Grown from organic apples in accordance with the California Organic Foods Act of 1990, this product has tons of great features that make it one of your best choices.

The best thing about this product is that it’s got the rich mother in it and is completely organic. Furthermore, it’s also not pasteurized helping to preserve the beneficial enzymes that help with conditions like acid reflux. Apart from that benefit, it’s also kosher certified as well.

It has a bright yellow, very recognizable label that hasn’t changed in a long time. The bottle is glass, which helps protect the purity of the vinegar. Plastic bottles can leach toxins into the vinegar the longer it sits on the shelf, so the glass is a much safer, cleaner alternative.

Verdict

If you’re looking for one of the highest quality products available, this might be an ideal pick for you. It’s kosher, organic, raw, and completely unfiltered.


Pros
  • Non-GMO ingredients
  • Certified organic
  • Contains large amounts of beneficial mother
Cons
  • Not found

Kevala Organic – Most Budget-friendly ACV

Kevala apple cider vinegarUsing apples that are only grown in America, this product is another ideal choice to consider.

It contains the beneficial mother. It’s also certified organic and is raw to preserve the beneficial properties of the product. In addition to these features, this is also one of the most affordable choices.

It remains at 5% acidity to prevent the growth of harmful foreign bacteria. It has an excellent taste, one of the best on this list.

With so many great features, does this product have any big drawbacks? The biggest potential issue is the plastic bottle. While it’s less likely to crack during shipping, plastic is known to contain many harmful chemicals.

Verdict

Despite its few shortcomings, this choice has a lot of benefits going for it. With a very affordable price tag, this may be one of the best choices to consider when on a tight spending budget.
Pros
  • Very affordable
  • Contains the mother
  • Less likely to crack during shipping
Cons
  • Not certified kosher

See Also: Top 10 Best Alkaline Water Filters

Viva Naturals – Hypo-Allergenic Product

Best Apple Cider Vinegar To DrinkBeing naturally free of the most common food allergen products, this option is yet another worthwhile choice. It’s made in a facility approved by the Global Food Safety Initiative as being free of allergens, such as milk, peanuts, and eggs.

Viva Naturals is certified organic and kosher. You can rest easy knowing that this raw product contains large amounts of beneficial mother in it. It also has mixing instructions on the back for making your own digestive tonics.

It’s got a pleasantly light taste but still tastes like raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar.

The amount of the mother varies from bottle to bottle because of their slow fermentation process. The natural process allows the mother to grow slowly and as each container is sealed, different amounts of the starter remain and grow.

Verdict

In general, this is another one of the better choices to check out. It’s full of the mother and the glass bottles they use help preserve the quality of this product.
Pros
  • List mixing instructions for drinking
  • Full of beneficial bacteria
  • Priced very affordably
Cons
  • Smaller bottle contains less product

Eden Foods – for Real Gourmet

Best Apple Cider Vinegar For Weight LossWith its large package size, this product is an ideal choice for weight loss use. It’s aged in wood to improve the flavor of the vinegar for use in all your favorite recipes.

Perhaps the best thing about this product is its amber glass bottle design. This helps preserve the nutritional quality and flavor of the product for a long time. Also, it’s completely organic and contains the beneficial bacteria and enzymes in the mother.

Eden uses and a slow press method with no extra enzymes to extract the juice. The juice is fermented slowly and aged. It goes through two different processes to first reach the desired alcohol level and then to turn that alcohol into the acetic acid apple cider vinegar is known for.

A product that has this many great features has to have a negative side too. After much searching, the main issue we found is that locating the expiration date on this product is somewhat difficult.

Verdict

Despite having an expiration date that is difficult to locate, the Eden has a lot of things going for it. It utilizes a special bottle design that preserves the nutritional quality of the product and comes with more than enough product for use in weight loss.
Pros
  • Bottle is designed to protect flavor and nutrients
  • Comes in large package size
  • Wood aging process adds unique flavor
Cons
  • Expiration dates are difficult to locate
  • Not kosher certified

Spectrum Naturals – Great for Salads

Best Raw Apple Cider VinegarDiluted to a healthy five percent acidity, this is a great product worth checking out. Being unpasteurized, it’s a good source of beneficial bacteria and enzymes that naturally occur during the aging process.

This product is completely organic. You can verify this by looking for the large green USDA organic label on the bottle. This helps guarantee that this product is free of harmful pesticides and other nasty chemicals.

Spectrum has a unique honey color and a milder taste than other products on the list but retains a natural crispness. That makes this ACV a good choice for salad dressings and marinades.

Verdict

Spectrum Naturals ACV is worthy product in good standing.
Pros
  • Rich source of beneficial enzymes and bacteria
  • Easy to use in most recipes
  • Flavor is protected via a glass bottle
Cons
  • Ingredients tend to settle quickly

Vermont Village – Universal Choice

Best Apple Cider Vinegar For SkinIt’s priced on the lower side making it a very budget-friendly option to consider. It has a pleasant, crisp taste and is very good for both salad dressings and drinks.

Besides its low price point, this product comes in a large container that is perfect for larger applications like skin treatments. It’s completely free of gluten and GMO ingredients. Furthermore, it’s kosher certified and is certified organic.

It’s diluted to 5% acidity which makes it easy to drink or add to dishes but prohibits the growth of foreign, harmful bacterias.

With all these great features, what is the biggest drawback of this product? Based on our findings, our biggest issue is the cheap cap design. This section is prone to slipping off easily leading to accidental spills.

Verdict

Even with the loose cap issue, the benefits of this choice are too good to pass up. It’s completely organic and contains large amounts of beneficial enzymes that are great for improving skin tone and texture.


Pros
  • Kosher certified
  • Free of gluten and artificial flavors
  • Budget-friendly pricing
Cons
  • Flimsy cap is prone to leaking
  • Shaking the bottle can lead to huge messes

Napa Valley – The Most Affordable Choice

Best Apple Cider Vinegar For HealthDiluted to just five percent acidity and 100 percent unfiltered, this product is very beneficial to your health and tastes great. It comes in a relatively large package for its price and is perfect for use in a wide variety of your favorite recipes.

Since this product is unfiltered and not pasteurized, it is filled with lots of beneficial mother. This provides ample amounts of nutritious amino acids and beneficial probiotic microbial cultures.

In addition, it’s also very affordable when compared to some of the smaller products covered.

It comes in glass bottles for smaller sizes, but unfortunately for larger sizes, it’s available only in plastic containers.

The biggest issue we see with it is that the bottle does not state that it is BPA free. Being acidic, it’s possible that the vinegar may cause this chemical to leach into it with time.

Verdict

It’s one of the larger products available for its cost and contains large amounts of beneficial enzymes. This would be an ideal choice for larger families who will go through the bottle quickly.
Pros
  • Rich in microbial cultures
  • Large package size
  • Only requires moderate amounts of mixing
Cons
  • Bottle does not state it’s BPA free
  • No kosher seal on bottle

Trader Joe’s – Pasteurized Option

Trader Joe’s apple cider vinegarMade from only the ripest apples, this choice tastes great and is perfect for use in marinades and on your favorite salad.

Their apple cider vinegar has a pleasantly sharp, though somewhat uninspired, taste with plenty of the mother strands still intact.

One of the unique things about this ACV is that it is pasteurized to provide enhanced shelf life. Furthermore, it’s also unfiltered and contains large amounts of amino acids from the mother.

On a sad note, the pasteurization process does have a major drawback to consider. Heat treatment kills off the good bacteria that is present in the mother as well as the bad. With that in mind, this drastically limits the nutritional quality benefits of it.

However, pregnant women who are under strict dietary rules are safer taking this version.

Verdict

Though this product does lack the beneficial bacteria seen in unpasteurized options, it’s still a great choice for people who prefer a product with a longer shelf life. Since it’s unfiltered, it also contains the beneficial amino acids of the mother as well.
Pros
  • Completely organic
  • Last longer than many other products
  • Packaging stores away easily
Cons
  • Lacks live probiotic bacteria
  • Relatively small amount of product for the price

Dynamic Health – One More Inexpesive Choice

Best Apple Cider Vinegar For HairWith a relatively large package size and organic ingredients, this is another excellent product you may want to try out. It’s made with non-GMO ingredients and has many great features to consider.

In addition to non-GMO ingredients and its organic nature, this product also has lots of the mother in each bottle. With its plastic bottle container, it’s also much less likely to crack during the shipping process.

It comes in 16-ounce sizes in glass bottles, and in 128-ounce sizes in plastic bottles. It’s very affordable, so if you aren’t sure if you like apple cider vinegar yet, you won’t risk too much going ahead to purchase this one.

Since you use a lot more product while treating your hair, it’s a good thing this option comes in a much larger size.

With so many great benefits, the product does have to have some minor issues as well. The biggest one is that even though the plastic bottle is BPA free, it is much more harmful to the environment than glass packaging options.

Verdict

The large package size and high-quality ingredients more than outweigh the few potential drawbacks of this product. It’s an ideal pick for just about any task that uses larger amounts of vinegar.
Pros
  • Certified organic
  • Requires no refrigeration
  • Mixing instructions are listed for drinking as well
Cons
  • Plastic bottles are more harmful to the environment
  • The mother does require more rinsing after applying to your hair

Vitacost

Best Organic Apple Cider VinegarSuitable for vegetarians and vegans, this is another product you should definitely check out. It’s made with only the finest apples and is completely organic. It’s also free of added ingredients like sugar, artificial flavors, and colors.

In addition to its organic nature, this product also contains the all-important mother. This provides the most important benefits of improving digestion and more. Furthermore, it’s also kosher certified as well.

It’s diluted to 5% acidity to safeguard the internal environment and prevent harmful foreign bacteria from growing.

Pros
  • Kosher certified
  • Suitable for vegetarians and vegans
  • Free of most common allergen components
Cons
  • Requires refrigeration after opening
  • Glass bottle is heavier than many other options

Conclusion

Apple cider vinegar has a lot of potential health uses. It’s also a great product for naturally cleaning the home as well. Before deciding on one, you should carefully consider factors like its mother content, the source of its ingredients, and the packaging type that it uses. By paying attention to these important factors, you can select the best option to fit your needs.

2 thoughts on “Top 10 Best Apple Cider Vinegar Brands 2023

    • Michael Simmons says:

      Hello Maria,

      On the label of the item, there is no mention about necessity to keep it in the fridge. This apple cider vinegar doesn’t lose its properties after opening or use in different storage areas. You can store it the way you like, preferably in a cool dark place. As to the refrigerator, it is more convenient to put it in the door.

      Here are some important rules for apple cider vinegar storage in the fridge:

      1. Retention period – shelf life of vinegar reached 1 year (for open) and 2 years (for unopened).
      2. Apply the appropriate capacity for vinegar – it shouldn’t be kept in brass, iron or copper containers. Glass bottle is the most suitable. /li>
      3. The lid should be tightly closed all the time. Do not remove it during storage.

      Just keep apple cider vinegar on hand in case you’ll need it.

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