How To: Apple Cider

Welcome to the Second Day of Apple Week!

Today's treat is not exactly "labor intensive" but is certainly time consuming.  However, the ends do justify the means!  

Apple Cider is my favorite fall drink to sip on while sitting outside watching the leave change, or to warm up while chatting with a couple of friends on a cool fall day.

The process is a bit time consuming because you have to get the juice out of the apple (which is not as hard as that sounds!)  Here's an easy way to make apple cider at home:

Bill of Materials:

 Apples 

(~ 4 lbs to 1 liter of cider)

Food Processor

Coffee Filters

Funnel

Cooking Pot

Once you have gathered your supplies clean your apples and cut them in to slices.  I cored the apples but you do not need to, nor do you need to peel the apples.  All that "stuff" will be strained before cooking the cider.     

Cut up all the apples in the food processor (mine is a crank!) so it looks mushy.  Then, take a spoonful and use the coffee filter to squeeze the juices out of the apples (this is the time consuming part!).  This juice will be your cider.  Use the funnel if necessary to gather the juice into a cup or bowl.  You will need to use a few coffee filters for this project because the filters will begin to tear.  Don't worry if you get a few pieces of apple in the cider, it will just be "pulp" and you can strain that out during the cooking process!

Now put all your cider into a pot (I actually just juiced my apples straight into the pot) and place it on the stove.  I brought it to a boil and then let it simmer and stew for approximately 30 minutes.  Can you see the steam coming from the pot?  This made the kitchen and apartment smell DELICIOUS!  

Taste test the cider to your liking; 

add cinnamon or sugar to your taste 

and then serve and sip!

Do you LOVE Apple Cider during the fall months?  Have you ever made it at home?