How to Make Apple Cider

Beth G.

Gaetano Family Farm
9 Years
Jun 26, 2010
3,279
19
198
New Haven County Connecticut
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Was wondering if anyone on this forum knows or has a recipe to share on how to make whole made apple cider? My husbands apples and pear trees have a whole bin full now and we need to do something and I was thinking Apple cider.

Any input would be gratefully appreciated!!

Thanks,
Beth
 
We bought one last year for doing grape jelly and pickled eggplant
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We just do not know the proper way to do it and when searching online their doesn't seem to be any recipes
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Quote:
 
If you don't have a cider press, the best you can do is put it through one of those food processors/mashers and then use a sieve with cheesecloth or any method to literally squeeze the juice out.
You need to pulverize the fruit to release the juice from the pulp cells. Then press to separate. In actual presses, they encase the pomace in burlap folded over to contain the solids and release the juice through the threads.
My mom had tried to make cider in the 60s on a small scale, using a small cider press and never quite got the knack of it. The encasing fabric kept ripping under pressure.
Now, to make good tasting cider, you also need a variety of apples: some sweet some regular and some tart. The science is in making the right proportions.
Fresh cider is just plain apple juice. As you keep it refrigerated it slowly ferments so that by about day 5, it has a nice kick to it. Keep it fermenting slowly and it gets feistier. After a month or so you have vinegar and it stops fermenting.
We put a gallon of fresh cider in our camper fridge last month and frankly forgot about it. John brought it in and the plastic jug was about bursting with fermentation. We slowly opened it and I swear we were on our way to hard cider:)
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However, by letting in the air within a few days we had vinegar.
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My dad had talked about having a barrel of hard cider in the cellar when he was young ( 1920s). Now I understand: barrel it and let it ferment with no air. Darn-- sounds like wine!
In PA, I believe you can't sell cider unless it is pasteurized by either heat or ultraviolet light. Sorry folks, that's not real cider in my book and no, I am not giving away my source!
 

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