Oct 28 2022
Cider
On a cool and sunny Sunday morning, I said goodbye to the cats and headed over to Rio’s place. It was Cider Day!
It had been so long since I went there that I was a little worried about getting lost. Fortunately, I did not get lost, and I was the first to arrive. Jonathan and Rio hugged me hello, and soon Megan and Rob arrived and production began.
We didn’t have as many apples this year, and some were set aside for the very worthy cause of becoming calvados. Jonathan made his own still out of copper, and has also acquired a small stainless steel keg with an oak inset on the face, which he will use to age the calvados instead of the previous method of aging in glass bottles with an oak twig. Nothing like a good process improvement!
We who are about to become cider salute you:
First, the apples have a bath, even though they are organic and grown in the family orchard:
The real process improvement was the new grinder:
Instead of having to cut up the apples, arguably the longest and most time-consuming part of the cider-making process, you just throw the whole apple in there, unless it’s too big for the chute, and it gets scrobbled with no human intervention required. Much easier (and faster) than cutting up the apples and grinding them by hand, the way we used to do it.
Here you see Jonathan and Rob decanting the ground apples into the press:
Here’s Jonathan pressing the cider:
Cider pouring out:
And in a handy to go container:
I can’t tell you how good it tasted. Or how good it was to all be together again, making cider like our ancestors.
FIVE YEARS AGO: A beautiful garden.
TEN YEARS AGO: Audrey and I had checkups.
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: A tip on how to raise kittens.
TWENTY YEARS AGO: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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