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Homemade apple juice4/1/2023 ![]() ![]() You can run the apples thru a MEAT GRINDER- make sure you catch all the pulp and juices!. To make a home grown version there are several ways other than this clever method-this would yield you more for your work. If it is fermented it then becomes-and is called-Hard Cider. Hooookay- Cider in apple country is called-cider. Does anyone know the exact and proper definition?) For a long time, I thought only hot, spiced cider was truly cider. Wikipedia leads me to believe that cider is defined as a fermented beverage, but a trip to the juice aisle of a grocery store argues otherwise. (Note: I'm not positive about the use of the term 'cider' here. Scoop out all of the spices with a sieve, or just ladle around them as you help yourself to a steaming cup. Add cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, chunks of fresh ginger, orange rind, perhaps some peppercorns if you're feeling daring. Hot Spiced Cider Now put your lovely apple juice in a pot on the stove. Repeat steps 4-8 with all of your apple pulp.ĭrink it, it's delicious! If you have a lot of pulp, like me, you'll want to stir before you pour.Open the cheesecloth and empty out the dry pulp- into the compost, or into a container for future use (I bet it will be good in muffins, or maybe as fruit leather).That's okay, you can repeat this process to re-filter if you don't like pulp.) (If you squeeze too hard, you'll spurt pulp into the pitcher. Gently twist or squeeze from the top to the bottom of the cheesecloth so that the juice drips out into the pitcher.But since that will take a ridiculously long time, carefully pick up the cheesecloth and hold the edges together, so that the whole thing dangles from your hand like a full water balloon held by the knot ( this picture that I found on Google might help explain). If you're inhumanly patient, you might just be able to let the juice drip-filter out into the pitcher.Glop maybe 1/3 cup of apple stuff into the cheesecloth.I put a rubber band around it and pushed down in the middle, producing the effect of a cheesecloth bowl suspended in the mouth of the pitcher. Cut a piece of cheesecloth, perhaps two feet square, and spread it over the mouth of your juice pitcher. Now that you have lovely juicy apple mush, it's time to filter the juice from the pulp.If your blender came with a piece that helps you shove reluctant food bits into the blade, you'll need it. ![]() If so, great! If not, scrape all of the little apple bits from the food processor into your high-powered blender and blend away. If your food processor is better than mine, you may have a puree by now.Otherwise, just cut the apples into small enough pieces that you can feed them into your food processor. It may surprise you to hear that you don't actually have to core the apples ( Snopes has the relevant information), but if it makes you uncomfortable, go ahead.If they're homegrown, be sure to cut out any questionable bits. it was very messy and I didn't know if it would work, so I didn't want to bring the camera in.) Here's the theory: you need to break the apple down into something soft enough that (since you don't have a press) you can squeeze the juice out of the pulp by hand. Variations: I haven't done this, but you could certainly add in fresh ginger or orange rind when you're pureeing the apples. ![]() I read somewhere that apples are 65% juice by weight, and that seemed to match pretty well with my input/output ratio. And something else to put the dry pulp into. Cheesecloth, preferably lots of it (though it's possible that a sieve would also work- or maybe coffee filters?). ![]() Here's what I did: Equipment: Food processor, high-powered blender, or something else capable of producing apples puree. So I checked in the kitchen for stand-in equipment, and a couple of hours later I had a pitcher full of fresh, thick, delicious apple cider from homegrown apples. However, like most people, I don't have a cider press, and nor do I have a juicer. Our trees produced a lot of apples this year, and I love cider. This morning, I decided I should learn how to make (non-alcoholic) apple cider. ![]()
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