Friday, October 15, 2010

Apple Cider

On Tuesday I went to Mary's, she is an Amish lady that I have gotten to know since moving here.  It has been fun getting to know them and spending some time with her family. 


This is the Amish farm, took the picture from my vehicle before anyone came outside.


They had just come in with a load of corn for the silo.
Her daughter was doing the wash.  Normally they wash on Monday, but went to pick up their daughter that had been at her brothers to help for a week.
  Here are the apples that were left from our tree after making applesauce and freezing for pies.
They will be turned into cider.
 Before going to make the cider, I washed and cut the apples in the morning so everything would be ready.


The cider press.  I put the apples in the hopper and one of Mary's boys turned the handle to chop up the apples.  It was hard to keep up with him.  It didn't take to long and you could start to smell the apples and for the bees to show up.  

Pressing the first batch of apples.  I got a five gallon pail and this soup pot about one third full.  It only took us abut 45 minutes to press the apples.



My finished cider.  The cider still needs to be strained when I get home.  Strained a small amount and had a glass of cider, it was so good.  Will definitely be making cider again.  Hot apple cider will be good this winter.  
Now I am trying to decide do I freeze it or can it?  Not sure which way is best, doing a little research and talking to a few people.  If you have made cider would love to hear how you stored it.  

Enjoying another wonderful fall day here.   

2 comments:

A Joyful Chaos said...

We used to can all of our apple cider.

This post made me crave some fresh pressed cider once again. It has been a while since I last had any.

Lady Farmer said...

Hi Cheryl~
Thanks for the visit to my sewing room today and for the sweet comment!
Oh, how I wish our trees did better this year ~ not enough apples to make cider, but when we have done it, I freeze the cider because canning it kills the healthy vitamins, etc. I just use the same glass canning jars, leaving enough head space for expansion and pop on a lid and rind and stick it in the freezer.(I use glass because plastic is to be avoided if at all possible in our house!) The only bad thing about it is remembering to remove it from the freezer to let it thaw in time!
But you are right, delish for hot cider inn the winter! I am very sure you will enjoy yours in the weeks to come!
Blessings!