Growing Apples for Homemade Cider

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Freshly pressed cider freezes incredibly well. The taste after the thaw is nearly indistinguishable from that of those glorious fall days when the juice was pressed. The secrets of a good result are but two: don't let the cider sit around for a few days before freezing, and pour out one and a half inches from a full jug before placing it upright in the freezer. Cider expands when frozen, and that airspace keeps tops from blowing. Freeze your cider in plastic jugs rather than glass bottles to prevent a lateral expansion burst. Frozen cider is at its best if thawed before next year's harvest comes pouring off the press.

I put up most of our year's supply of apple juice on the canning shelves. Space in our small chest freezer is at a premium, and the peas and berries of summer leave room for just a few jugs of frozen cider. Luckily, fresh cider becomes juice in just the time it takes to heat it to 170 degrees Fahrenheit and keep it at that temperature for 10 minutes. Be sure to use a stainless steel or enamel pot, which won't react with the cider and cause a metallic taste. Heating to a higher temperature is a mistake, despite what the more conservative processing books advise: the yeasts and bacteria of concern are killed off at 170 degrees Fahrenheit, but nutritional value and flavor is not fully precipitated out. This heat treatment prevents the cider from fermenting. The hot juice is then simply poured into hot, sterilized canning jars to within half an inch of the top and the sterilized lids screwed down. Apple juice stored in a cool, dark place will keep almost indefinitely.

Homemade apple juice is as good as the cider used to make it, though admittedly the tangy effervescence of cider is lost in heating. The apple juice in grocery stores, generally being made of a bland cider, is rather bland itself. Kids taste this difference quickly, and if you've found them not drinking the cheap store brand, give `em a shot at your orchard's best.

Apple Cider Jelly

Cider can also be boiled down much the same as maple sap in the making of maple syrup. The natural pectin found in the apple leads this evaporation to a jellied end, however. A true New England cider jelly comes "fully puckered," with no sugar added to lessen the tangy apple flavor.

Boil down fresh cider in a stainless steel pot as rapidly as possible till it approaches the jelly boiling point of 220°F. The hot cider will "sheet" off a testing spoon in a continuous lip when it reaches the jelly stage. Pour it into hot, sterilized jars and secure with sterilized lids. One gallon of cider will be reduced to just over two eightounce jars of jelly. Apple molasses — the syrupy stage of boiled cider — may result if the apples used for cider had a low pectin content or if you didn't evaporate the cider far enough. Wild or crab ap ples in the cider blend help ensure a good set. Don't be disappointed with apple molasses though — it lends itself wonder fully to Shaker boiled cider pie or as a perfect glaze on roast duck or ham.

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