Homemade Apple Cider, Yes, its that time of the year.

[larry_stewart]

For decades my family has been making apple cider, its kind of a welcoming fall tradition. My parents bought a hand cranked cider press. We ( the kids, grand kids and my parents ) would all go out east to pick apples from a local orchard. In addition we would throw a few of the crappy apples from our tree. All the kids ( and some adults) would take part in loading the apples and cranking the press.

My parents have since moved into a home where they couldn't keep the press, so I inherited it. We kept the tradition going with my immediate family. Now that the kids are out of country/ state, me and my wife made it a 2 'man' project.

This past week we picked aa half a bushel of apples and went to town. Unfortunately, due to the drought, our apple trees didn't produce, so we had to rely 100% on apples picked from out east. None the less, the cider came out great. We used to use the pressed scraps to make homemade apple cider vinegar and to feed the chickens, but we lost our last chicken a few months ago to a raccoon, so looks like Ill be making a lot of vinegar this year.

 

[dragnlaw]

Larry, you just have to take a jug of cider, add a bit of yeast, cork it*, stuff it under the staircase at the cottage.

ahhh, the memories!

Biggest problem making it was keeping it hidden from our parents. (but I think they really knew) It was always done at our place as we were the only ones that had a staircase.

*can't remember what we "corked" it with. Wasn't a real cork, that would have exploded...

Really think you should get another chicken, so helpful with scraps and bugs... and eggs (well, at least for you)

 

[blissful]

What fun, cool tradition to have for family.

 

[dragnlaw]

Not too sure about the "family" tradition part...

more like the "Cottage Teenagers Gang"

 

[Donotuy]

Sure the cider is great! Really like your tradition

 

[JohnDB]

Reminds me of my youth when we would go to the Simms Fruit Ranch and get apples and cider.

Good times!
Great way to keep the traditions alive!

 

[dragnlaw]

bliss, in rereading this Thread, realizing you must have been commenting to Larry! How funny my comment after must have been. LOL!

 

[Aunt Bea]

One of my favorite fall treats!

 

[dragnlaw]

Drool... nom nom... yummy... groan and moan...

Aunt Bea! those donuts!

 

[GotGarlic]

I made some a couple of weeks ago but I forgot to post them. I don't have a doughnut pan, so I use this mini Bundt cake pan.

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL, gorgeous GG!

 

[KenyonChandler]

Just stumbled upon this thread, and it's so cool to see people making their own apple cider. I remember when I was a kid, my family and I used to do the same thing every fall. We would go to a local orchard and pick apples, then press them into cider with our own hand-cranked press.

 

[GotGarlic]

Just stumbled upon this thread, and it's so cool to see people making their own apple cider. I remember when I was a kid, my family and I used to do the same thing every fall. We would go to a local orchard and pick apples, then press them into cider with our own hand-cranked press.

Hi and welcome to Discuss Cooking ☺

 

[KenyonChandler]

It was always so much fun and the cider tasted way better than anything you could buy in the store. And have you ever thought about using the apple scraps to make hard cider? It's surprisingly easy to do and a great way to use up the leftovers. There's a home brew shop near me that sells all the supplies you need to get started if you're interested. Thanks for sharing your story, man.

 

[dragnlaw]

Welcome! to DC, KenyonChandler.

 

[larry_stewart]

It was always so much fun and the cider tasted way better than anything you could buy in the store. And have you ever thought about using the apple scraps to make hard cider? It's surprisingly easy to do and a great way to use up the leftovers. There's a home brew shop near me that sells all the supplies you need to get started if you're interested. Thanks for sharing your story, man.

I used to use the scraps to feed the chickens. Now, with no chickens, I make apple cider vinegar and , on the occasion, apple wine.

 

[taxlady]

Now I am curious. What is the difference between hard cider (or as we call it in Canada, just plain "cider") and apple wine?

 

[dragnlaw]

taxy, I copied this from a site called Brewsy. Not putting a link as they sell. But this is a good description of the difference.
*******
The main difference? Alcohol content. Yup, that is it - alcohol content. To qualify as a hard cider, the delicious apple brew may not have more than 8.5% alcohol by volume (ABV), whereas anything above 8.5% ABV is therefore considered apple wine.
*******

Wines usually ring in at around 11% alcohol.