The Best Apple Cider Vinegar Brand To Put In Your Cart Every Time

Apple cider vinegar is on a unending roll, gaining fans for its health benefits as well as for cleaning just about anything imaginable. But for those of us feeling a bit squeamish about ingesting something strong enough to kill mold and trap flies, the question looms large: What does it actually taste like? Fortunately, the food testers at Tasting Table went on a quest to find the best apple cider vinegar brand to put in your grocery cart. 

On our list of the 11 best apple cider vinegar brands, some came from the tester's local grocery store — but for a broader reach, online selections from Amazon joined the party. Taste was a primary determinant in ranking the ACVs from worst to best, but it was far from the only factor. Considerations also included things like price range, production process, and potential health benefits. 

Hands down, the Number One spot went to an apple cider vinegar from a family-owned enterprise in Virginia: White House Foods. The company has been growing apples for well over a century and makes quite a few apples products — but its White House Apple Cider Vinegar is what stole our hearts, or at least our taste buds. You can choose whether to buy the ACV in organic or non-organic form, but the USDA-certified organic ACV is where you get the rich, creamy texture, earthy apple sweetness, and the pucker-perfect tang. All that goodness mostly comes from retaining what's called The Mother.

The old adage of "mother knows best" certainly manifests in the White House organic apple cider vinegar, which is made from Virginia's Shenandoah Valley apples. The company makes several iterations of its ACV, but the one that snagged our top spot for the best apple cider vinegar clearly states on the label, "with Mother." And in the world of ACV, that means everything. 

The Vinegar Mother is essentially an acetic acid bacteria that grows on top of fermented apple cider and transforms it into vinegar. It's also known more officially as the mycoderma aceti, which translates as "skin of the acid." The key to making the most earthy, tangy, tasty, and nutritious apple cider vinegar is leaving the mother in the batch rather than filtering it out. Our chosen White House version "with Mother" is unpasteurized and unfiltered with a notably murky appearance, which is a sure sign that those super-beneficial nutrients are still in there.

Along with the friendly bacteria, a vinegar mother also contains beneficial proteins and enzymes, which together comprise a wide range of potential health benefits. Though some are unproven, they include assistance with weight loss, lowering blood pressure, managing symptoms of diabetes, reduced cholesterol, and improved heart and skin health. Fortunately, the White House brand also brings the flavor we love for our apple cider vinegar marinades, salad dressings, glazes, and apple butters. For an on-the-go dose of ACV, you can also get unfiltered White House ACV in two-ounce shot portions on Amazon.