Apple cider is best enjoyed chilled, warmed with spices, or mixed into other drinks. If you’re looking for apple cider vinegar (ACV), the approach is different: dilute one to two tablespoons in a full glass of water and drink it before a meal. Both versions of apple cider have their own benefits and best practices, so here’s what to know about each.
Fresh Apple Cider: Cold, Warm, or Mulled
Fresh apple cider is unfiltered, pressed apple juice with a cloudy appearance and a richer, more complex flavor than clear apple juice. You can drink it straight from the jug, poured over ice, or at room temperature. Most people prefer it cold in warmer months and heated during fall and winter.
Mulled cider is the classic warm preparation. Combine cider in a pot with cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, cardamom pods, coriander seeds, and star anise. You can simmer it for about an hour or let it steep at a very low temperature for several hours. Cinnamon adds sweetness and spice, while cloves restore depth and body that can thin out during mulling. There’s no single “correct” temperature. Keep the heat low enough that the cider never reaches a rolling boil, which can cook off delicate flavors. If your stove’s lowest setting runs hot, place a heavy skillet under the pot as a heat diffuser.
For a quick cold version, stir a pinch of ground cinnamon and a squeeze of lemon into a glass of chilled cider. You can also use fresh cider as a base for cocktails (bourbon and cider is a fall staple) or mix it with sparkling water for a lighter, fizzy drink.
Pasteurized vs. Unpasteurized Cider
Most cider sold in grocery stores is pasteurized, meaning it’s been heat-treated to kill bacteria. Unpasteurized cider, the kind you’ll find at orchards, farmers’ markets, and roadside stands, hasn’t been treated and can carry harmful bacteria. The FDA requires unpasteurized cider sold in stores to carry a warning label, but cider sold by the glass at markets or cider mills doesn’t need one.
For most healthy adults, unpasteurized cider is fine. But children, older adults, pregnant women, and anyone with a weakened immune system should stick to pasteurized versions. If you’re buying cider by the glass and the labeling isn’t clear, ask whether it’s been pasteurized. Keep unpasteurized cider refrigerated and drink it within a few days of opening.
How to Drink Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is made by fermenting apple cider twice: first, yeast converts the sugars into alcohol, then bacteria convert the alcohol into acetic acid. That acetic acid is what gives ACV its sharp taste and its potential health effects. If you’re drinking it for wellness purposes, the standard amount is one to two tablespoons (15 to 30 mL) per day, diluted in at least a full glass of water. The Mayo Clinic notes that up to two tablespoons a day appears safe for most people.
Never drink ACV straight. It’s highly acidic and can irritate your throat and damage tooth enamel over time. To protect your teeth, the American Dental Association recommends diluting it with water, drinking it through a straw, swishing plain water in your mouth afterward, and waiting at least an hour before brushing your teeth. Brushing too soon can spread the acid across softened enamel.
If the taste is still too strong after diluting, add a small spoonful of honey or mix it into a glass of juice. Some people add it to salad dressings or marinades instead of drinking it, which still delivers the acetic acid without the sharp bite.
When to Drink It
Timing matters more for ACV than for fresh cider. Drinking diluted ACV right before a meal, particularly one high in carbohydrates, may help reduce blood sugar spikes afterward. The mechanism isn’t fully understood, but it likely involves slowing the rate at which food leaves your stomach, which blunts the surge of glucose into your bloodstream.
Drinking ACV on an empty stomach can cause nausea or indigestion, so pairing it with food is the safer approach. If you’re having it in the morning, drink it alongside breakfast rather than on its own.
Blood Sugar and Other Health Effects
The strongest evidence for ACV involves blood sugar management. A large meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Nutrition found that ACV reduced fasting blood sugar by about 22 mg/dL in people with type 2 diabetes. The effect was dose-dependent: each additional milliliter of daily ACV consumption was linked to roughly a 1.25 mg/dL drop in fasting blood sugar. These effects took more than eight weeks of consistent use to become meaningful.
ACV also contains modest amounts of probiotics, especially in raw, unfiltered versions. You’ll notice a cloudy sediment floating in the bottle, often called “the mother,” which is a colony of bacteria and yeast from the fermentation process. It’s thought to support gut health, though the probiotic content is small compared to fermented foods like yogurt or kimchi.
Gummies and Supplements vs. Liquid
ACV gummies have become popular, but they don’t appear to deliver the same results as liquid vinegar. A 2020 randomized controlled study found that liquid vinegar reduced post-meal blood sugar by 31% more than whole vinegar tablets. Even dissolving the tablets in water didn’t match the liquid form. Most gummy supplements contain about 500 milligrams of ACV powder per serving, which is far less than the 15 to 770 mL doses used in clinical studies. If blood sugar management is your goal, liquid ACV diluted in water is the more effective choice.
Who Should Be Cautious
ACV can lower potassium levels, so if you take diuretics or other blood pressure medications that also reduce potassium, regular ACV use could compound that effect. People on diabetes medication should monitor their blood sugar more closely when adding ACV, since the combined effect of medication and vinegar could push levels too low. In both cases, adjusting your medication may be necessary.
For fresh cider, the main concern is the unpasteurized variety and its bacterial risk for vulnerable populations. Otherwise, fresh cider is simply a high-sugar fruit drink. An eight-ounce glass contains roughly the same amount of sugar as apple juice, so treat it like any other fruit beverage in your diet.