Apple Bounty

Six months ago...

End of last summer,  a crate or two of apples picked from the old orchard.

Organic by default from years of neglect.

Wash them, chop them and juice them.

Sneak some sweet golden juice from the bucket.

Cover the bucket with a cloth and leave in the sink overnight so the natural yeasts can start fermenting. 

After a few days, strain the liquid into a clean bucket, add 2t brewing yeast and around half a kilo of sugar.

Top the bucket with a lid, place in a warm spot and release the air build up every few days.

Once fermentation has subsided (after a month or so) bottle the liquid, adding a little sugar to each bottle.

Leave the bottles in a cool place for as long as you can stand. 

The longer you leave it, the better it gets. Initial tastings may be a bit rough around the edges.

While you are waiting, sneak some into your cooking when the recipe calls for apple cider vinegar.

Now...

End of winter, a pleasing clear  fizzy apple cider, rather lip-numbingly strong, but flavourful.

In the UK they call it scrumpy.

Chilly Friday night: simmer two bottles of apple cider with 2 cloves, some broken cinnamon sticks, a pinch of fennel seeds, some slices of orange, 2 T sugar, some pomegranate seeds and a piece of vanilla pod. 

Strain the spices and served your mulled apple cider with a dash of grenadine and an orange slice in each glass. A delicious, warming fireside drink to accompany one of Decadent Dad's awesome meals.

Last year we dried apple rings. This year we also bottled and froze some apples. They made lovely apple and rhubarb crumbles. I think I may try apple cider vinegar next year.

This truly is an example of the abundance we live in, fruit free for the picking that will fall off the trees and rot unless we make the most of it. What's an Elastic Mom to do?

USE IT- DON'T LOSE IT