cider making

[joebill]

I have tried repeatedly to buy genuine cider hereabouts, but there must be a big difference between cider and apple juice, and the pasteurization makes it not tase like cider any more.

I recall an old "York Imperial" apple tree we used to attack around thanksgiving every year and strip off all the hanging apples and most of the "drops" on the ground. Every cousin that helped went home with at least a gallon or two, and each of the uncles got their own jug to mix in with a quart of Everclear alcohol.

Started the process by quartering the apples and running them through a meat grinder into a   big wash pan. Every step after that we would get some cider just by draining the pulp through a cloth (sometimes cheeze cloth, but often just old sheets)

After that, the pulp went into a foley food mill (like a collander) for more squeezing, but then the Moms took over, because they had all been raised in an apple orchard and had their own fun rituals.

They used a pillow case or a gunny sack that was in good shape, pushed broom sticks through the top and bottoms of the sack full of apple pulp and, standing over a big wash tub started twisting in opposite directions, did not stop until no more liquid came out, then dumped out the dry pulp and put more wet stuff in the sack.

They always said that method was wasteful, because the huge mechanical press in the orchard where they grew up pressed the pulp so hard and dry it was like tough leather, so hard that animals would not eat it and they took it out and buried it.

Those 4 sisters had a lot of good stories about growing up in a depression era apple orchard.......Joe

[blackfeather]

My great granddad used to keep a barrel of it in the basement. Of course, it went hard. His buddies would come over and drink the stuff till they were toasted. One left the spicket on and the cider drained all over the basement floor. My grandma put an end to cider in the basement. Grandpa was a temperance man so he didn't care that she ended it. My dad was a kid back then. great granddad used to fall asleep in front of the fireplace, so my dad and his sister would tie him up. At about 11pm you'd hear him thrashing around cussing and swearing till he got loose. He'd never say anything when morning came though.

[Ozarks Tom]

Several years ago we bought a couple bushels of apples to make apple pie in a jar - canned. We put the peels and cores into a 5 gallon ceramic pot, I forget, but probably added a little of water, and covered the pot with cheese cloth. It turned to vinegar, and we strained it off into gallon jugs. I'm betting over time it's turned pretty darned hard. Never have tasted it, just did it as an experiment, but at the very least we have apple cider vinegar.

[joebill]

One of the stories the sisters told about the apple harvest every year was they stood next to a conveyer belt run, like everything else, with a small stationary engine, and sorted the apples as they gently rolled past on the conveyer.

Grandad told them they always had to stand in a wooden Barrell when looking at the conveyer and they soon found out why. If not, within a few minutes they would start moving with the apples and simply fall over sideways on the floor.

The barrell stabilized them as they leaned on the side of it and could keep their balance.....Joe

[BrewDaddy]

I was gifted about 4 lbs of raisins yesterday, and it looks like the blackberry harvest by the lake will be bountiful....

Plans are in the works.............

bd