Apple Cider

Its getting to be that time of the year again, Cider. Around here we have a brand called McCutcheon's, locally pressed and hard to beat, perfect combo of sweet to tart. What do you have in your neck of the woods?

Have you tried Dickens Cider?...Russ

I've asked this before but did not get a realistic answer, so I'll try again. What is the difference between apple cider and apple juice? I used to think juice was transparent while cider was cloudy. But I've seen cloudy juice and clear cider.

Here in Dothan , Alabama , we don't have locally produced apple cider . But , we do have locally grown and freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. It is actually very good for you . It contains lots of vitamins , minerals ,and anti-oxidants . And , it has only 10 percent more natural sugar than orange juice ! I just love it .

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Originally posted by Russ Jackson

Have you tried Dickens Cider?...Russ

You just gotta love Bob and Tom!

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Originally posted by plb

I've asked this before but did not get a realistic answer, so I'll try again. What is the difference between apple cider and apple juice? I used to think juice was transparent while cider was cloudy. But I've seen cloudy juice and clear cider.

Generally, apple cider is basically apple juice that has not undergone a filtration process that removes coarse pulp or sediment.

Cider may or may not be heat pasteurized.

Whereas

Generally apple juice has been filtrated, pasteurized, and vacuum sealed to give a longer lasting, clearer looking product.

Most juices add additional water and other ingredients to maintain flavor and clarity.

Outside of the US "cider" means a hard cider not a sweet cider


Hard Cider - Fermented Sweet Cider that is producing alcohol
Sweet Cider - Fresh Juice

Apple Jack - Hard Cider that is frozen, then the unfrozen liquid poured off, and the unfrozen liquid gets refrozen, until the time you get almost pure apple alcohol.

Locally I have 3 orchards that produce cider

Salatin's - Produces a sweet unpasturized cider

Goley's - Produces a sweet unpasturized cider

Biersdorfer's - Produces a sweet patsurized cider (sells around the Cincinnati area)


Old man Goley produces some of the BEST cider I have ever drank, and I have drank 100's of gallons.

This is my favorite time of year, the pumpkins are getting ready, the apples are in and delicious. I go to Salatin's get a peck or so of apples and start eating them right there in the store.

I LOVE fall....apple cider, leaves turning colors,cool nights and semi- warm days.Bob and I built a fire pit this year, and have enjoyed sitting out there at night,just talking.It has been a neighbor inviting thing, and we find ourselves with company quite often.I love it.

On our Day Trip earlier this week we passed many Pumpkin Fields with farmers in the Harvesting process. I think it will be a banner year for the Pumpkin growers.

After processing as many apples as we did this season I have learned two things...1. We will take better care of the trees in the off-season to get better looking results next year. and 2. We love the Arkansas Black Apple better than any other we are growing. I have ordered three more Ark. Black Semi-Dwarf trees to add to the Orchard this Fall. They will arrive early in November !

Al-waiting with bated breath for the apple butter recipe!!!!

I have 2 buddies with old orchards in their backyard.. Date back over 50 plus years ago. Never sprayed either! So been enjoying the "freebies" to make apple pie, and have some apple butter going on the burner tomorrow or Monday (crock pot method). Probably be doing up some applesauce also, just for the heck of it. And if I had a press, be doing some hard cider also.

Actually it is a very simple process. We use a ten quart stock pot and a six-quart slo-cooker. Peel and core your apples in batch size amounts. Janet does this and tosses the chunks of apple into a bowl if ice-water that has 'fruit-fresh' added. When she fills the bowl with roughly 10 quarts (plus a bit) she turns them over to me. I fill the stock pot to the top with the chunk apples, add about a cup of Apple juice and a couple of overflowing tablespoons of lemon juice. I Heat the apples to a boil stirring constantly to avoid scorching. Cook until the chunks have softened considerable. They cook-down a lot as they soften!

At this point we use two methods depending on the final product.

1. We like very coarse grind Apple Sauce A LOT!. If this batch is to be AppleSauce, we lower the heat and add two to three cups of sugar (taste test a lot) and a tablespoon of Cinnamon and half-teaspoon of ground clove. Bring it back to the simmering point and then run a hand mixer thru the apples until they are "sauced" to meet your needs! A few minutes on high-speed near the end of the process seems to really get the apples "sauced". Then Bottle and seal using whatever process you wish. ! Makes a bit more than a gallon depending on the size of the bottles you use.

2. If Apple Butter is your final product. After bringing the apples to a boil and cooking til soft (about 10 minutes) over a medium-high heat, Use a Foley grinder (or a food processor) (We have a 3.5 quart Foley hand crank food mill that works great) to strain the apples into your crock-pot or slow-cooker. Set the cooker on high for the first two or three hours...just enough to bring the apples to a simmer around the edge of the cooker. Add Sugar to taste, and Cinnamon and ground clove (if you like Clove!) a bit more than you did with the AppleSauce. We also add a tablespoon of lemon juice to help thicken up the mixture as it cooks. After the first few hours you can turn down the slow cooker to lo and let it go for ten-twelve hours, or until the consistency reaches the point you like the most. We found that some apple species took much longer to thicken and darken than others.
When close to ready, heat it back up on high to help the 'Butter' to seal the jars when you fill them. Process using whatever style you wish...Pressure canners scare the hell out of me, so we either water-bath the jars or refrigerate them for short storage.

To repeat.. Sweetening and Spice intensity is a matter of personal tase. Some would prefer not to add any sugar at all..others like more or less of the spices added. Since the apples cook for a considerable length of time it is pretty easy to adjust the sweet and spice level slowly as you cook. Remember though that the sugar does seem to aid the thickening process.
AL

I agree with all that my friend Cajun says about apples, but while some people do call the residue from frozen fermented cider "Apple Jack", that horrible undrinkable residue is not really fit for human consumption. And I know, I've tried it !!

"Apple Jack" is actually an apple brandy - it is the distilled extract from fermented apple cider. The main difference between Apple Jack and Calvados or Apple brandy is ageing. In France they age the cider itself before making the brandy (Calvados)- and it is an excellent product, especially if the brandy is left to age in oak for a few years. In America the fermented cider is unaged (it is called "beer" in the business) and the apple brandy is directly distilled, usually in a continuous distilling process as opposed to the French pot (batch) stills from the fermented cider. If it is sold unaged it is called Apple Jack - Lairds makes a very nice version - about $12, if it is aged for a few years it is called apple brandy. Laird's makes an very nice product but not up to the standards of the better French Calvados - Lairds 7year old =$22; French 7 year old $70. And, once you've distilled any product to at least 17% alcohol and bottle it no perceptile ageing takes place in the bottle. Ageing that smooths and refines brandys takes place in oak barrells - no place else.

BTW: we have a number of local cider mills still in operation around here and they uniformly make a very nice poduct. Now and then, if nature cooperates, a jug of cider left to itself in the right light and temperature conditions turns into a lovely champagne-like product - bubbly, sweet, and delicious -a rare treat we all look forward to, but rarely achieve. More often it turns into a poor imitation of vinegar.

Cheers, John

As Kenneth Roberts'character, Cap Huff, suggests in a famous scene in the novel "Northwest Passage", cider makes for a very acceptable version of hot buttered rum. He regrets that he has to use hot water

Great info Al! Here's the recipe I'm going to try out: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/All-Day-Apple-Butter/Detail.aspx

The local orchard here in my part of East TN offers an frozen apple cider slush that is too delicious. They don't heat treat the cider,and the slush is all cider, no water or sugar added. Tart, sweet, icy and totally addictive.

Al

If you have Vitamin C tablets (ascorbic acid) you can crush them instead of the fruit fresh.

One of the best Cider's in Jersey is Delicious Orchards,which presses its own...we also love Kauffman's from Amish Country in Pennsylvania...

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Originally posted by leethebard

One of the best Cider's in Jersey is Delicious Orchards,which presses its own...we also love Kauffman's from Amish Country in Pennsylvania...

My sister is in charge of buying pies, for Thanksgiving (I do all of the cooking). The pies from Delicious Orchards are fantastic. I am the only one who loves Pecan. That is fine by me!!

My Mom loves the cider from Delicious Orchards. It is located in Colts Neck, NJ.

The pies there are very good...Have you tried the apple-cranberry cider??? It's great...also the apple cider donuts!!!Wow!!!

In my experiences, cider, whether it be apple, cherry, what have you, is something you can only get in the mountains at certain times of the year. It is generally very rich, flavorful and something not to be forgotten. Juice, on the other hand, can be bought in any grocery store at any time of the year and is basically a watered down version of anything you could "squeeze" yourself, either by hand or by using one of those fancy gadgets they try to sell in the early morning hours on cable TV.

Even more than hickory-smoked bbq, I miss fresh apple cider. I grew up in southeast Missouri, and when I was a kid we could drive a few miles to an apple orchard (Young's in Springfield, MO) in the fall and get it right from the tap.

Those days are over. A few years ago, I ordered several times from a place in Michigan that made unpasteurized cider and shipped overnight. It ended up costing me a little over $15 a gallon, but it was worth it to me. I can't find them now, so something has changed there.

Central Market here in Austin sells a cider from New York, I believe Fowler's is the brand, that tastes like cider should taste. It's generally available from fall to after the first of the year here. Everything else that is sold here masquerading as apple cider is complete swill.

Mothernature , there's one juice that you can't by in a grocery store . That's fresh pressed sugarcane juice that we love down here in Dothan on a cold fall day . The fresh sugarcane juice is our fall and winter treat down here because sugarcane is only ground and pressed in the cold months .

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Originally posted by iqdiva

Mothernature , there's one juice that you can't by in a grocery store . That's fresh pressed sugarcane juice that we love down here in Dothan on a cold fall day . The fresh sugarcane juice is our fall and winter treat down here because sugarcane is only ground and pressed in the cold months .

That's a new one. How does it taste, if there is something you can try to explain it so that I may have an idea. I'd love to try it.

I have eaten sugar cane, freshly cut, but I don't think I've had the pleasure of sugarcane juice in a jug, or what have you.

It truly has a taste all its own . Children down in our area also chew stalks of peeled sugarcane as a special treat . It isn't all all what you might expect . It isn't syrupy or cloyingly sweet . When it is cooked down it becomes sugarcane syrup which isn't as strong as sorghum . The freshly squeezed juice is very good for you too . It is a powerful anti-oxidant . And , it's full of minerals and vitamins while containing only 10 percent more natural sugar than orange juice . But , it's very perishable and must either be consumed right away or frozen because it will begin to sour . I think that rum is derived from the juice of sugarcane.I have even made wonderful mojitos with the sugarcane juice . It's a wonderful treat that I look forward to drinking and freezing as much as I can every year .

I've lost a deal of weight and am looking for something to help me gain it back. I had a bit of a hospital stay. I love food and eating, though at this point in time, drinking my calories is easier. Do you think that if I could locate some of this it would help me?

quote:

Originally posted by iqdiva

Mothernature , there's one juice that you can't by in a grocery store . That's fresh pressed sugarcane juice that we love down here in Dothan on a cold fall day . The fresh sugarcane juice is our fall and winter treat down here because sugarcane is only ground and pressed in the cold months .

When I was in Havana, (no, wait, American government, I was NEVER in Cuba, I'm just joking...really...I was never there ) a very pretty young woman made me a mojito with fresh-pressed sugar cane juice. She ran a big cane through a presser. It was awesome.

MotherNature , please try some if you can find someone that grows and grinds the sugarcane . But you must get it very fresh and please keep it cold or freeze the juice . Also , if you like you can strain it through a fine sieve . But I always just drink it without straining the juice . I hope my info helped .

Bushie , I'll bet that was a great mojito !

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Originally posted by iqdiva

Bushie , I'll bet that was a great mojito !

You betcha, Sweetie.

Now I MUST visit you, iqdiva-oysters AND fresh sugar cane!!!
Thanks, Al for the recipes...

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Originally posted by Russ Jackson

Have you tried Dickens Cider?...Russ

Never had the pleasure, I've never seen it.

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Originally posted by chewingthefat

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Jackson

Have you tried Dickens Cider?...Russ

Never had the pleasure, I've never seen it.

http://www.catsprn.com/sounds/wav/dickens.wav (1.3MB)

Bushie was in Knoxville a few years ago and we made a stop at the Apple Barn where they make fresh unpasterized apple cider. It has to be refrigerated. We took it on down the road until we got back to Knoxville and Bushie introduced me to apple cider with Canadian whiskey. I had never had Canadian whiskey mixed but I have to admit that it was super duper.

Leave it to Bushie to be unusual.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I must have done something right, accidentally. A friend picked me up a jug of unpasturized cider out at the orchard in Cosby, TN last weekend. She kept it in her fridge, I brought it home Wednesday, had some and left the jug out all night in a room that fluctuates from 65 to 70 degrees most days. Refridgerated it the next day... when I opened it the next morning it was FIZZY! And SO good. It continued to carbonate (and inflate the jug) in the fridge and the last glass of it tonight definately had a tinge of alcohol's kick in it. (Not strong, maybe like beer). But MAN it was good. I think I might enjoy hard cider:)

Mmm... cider. We have a little place here in Northeast PA called Heller's orchard. It's unpasturized (and if it's pasturized, its not real cider), and fantastic. They store the apples in a barn and make cider almost year round (they are still pressing fresh stuff this week actually). Little old Mrs. Heller works in the small store they have, but if she isn't in, you just leave your money in the basket by the register or pay the next time you stop by. Don't know of any other places that still do that!!

And to the posters above, the stuff is great both with whiskey, or naturally fermented in the fridge.

Fall is a long way off here in northern ca, but when I think of cider ,I think of the old Nettie Ochs Cider Mill in Livingston NJ...such a great place, we used to wait for the first pressing every year...eventually, they sold their orchards, now I believe there are condos there,,,progress- yeah right!! 

Mayor, when I was still living in the barracks at Norton back in 71 or so we use to have to get away.  That was back in the old hippy days of catching a buzz and going on a cruise.  We would head out souh west otwards Apple Valley.  There were some spots we always hit.  One was a sort of Peacock Farm off the county rd.  just down the road from an old 50's "fun cenet"  They had the trampolines thet were pits dig in the ground with a criss-sross mat on top along with the staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate of the art pong and death rad machines.  For us hard cores the foosball/air hockey sction!
All thru that area was apple orchards.  Being a colorado bo i was suprised not thinking of the lower desert as apple o****ry.  To meSC would be citrus country.  Come the season the little Mom nad Po apple presses were in full tilt.  Along wth ard and soft cider, apple juice and butters they had a deal to pick and squeeze your own and one place put a personalized lable on it for your.  We went the other day with some older married friends once to the fruit wine country.  I rememer bringing back sevral cases of great mixed fruit wines for about 70 cents a bottle.
Al, did i miss a bit on the apples out there?  It sure brought back a memory wehn i saw this post!

Stucky Farm near Westfield has wonderful cider.  Stucky's has  an apple orchard, fresh vegetables & fruits in season-both u-pick & available in their farm market.   When my children were younger I would go every 2-3 weeks to pick whatever was in season.  One of Stuckey's specialities in the farm market is apple cider slush.  Nothing tastes better after being in the fields  on a hot summer afternoon than a cider slushie. 

When I go home to Alabama in the fall, I stop by Isom's Orchard on U.S. 72 in Athens, a dozen miles or so from the Tennessee line, and just a mile or 2 from I 65. It's a family-run business, and  they press their own cider. It's delicious. During cider season Isom's offers cider slushies. This is the tastiest, most refreshing drink I think I've ever had. If you are in the area do stop by.