MetaChat - I spent the day at an apple orchard

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11 October 2008

I spent the day at an apple orchard making fresh cider on an antique hand-cranked cider press. →[More:]I have decided that:

1) this is a horribly unhygenic process.
2) it is possible to have too many apples.
3) Quakers have the coolest relatives.
4) *I* need cooler relatives, ones that have hundred-year-old apple trees.

1 and 2 aside, this was a totally awesome way to spend my Saturday. And the cider is FREAKING DELICIOUS. I got to bring home 2.5 gallons of it and I need suggestions for stuff to do with it. Bunnies, help!

BONUS: Before I left I threw together a really fast butternut-squash-apple-maple crisp for the potluck portion of the day. It was entirely experimental but went over really well. YAY SUCCESSFUL CULINARY IMPROVISATION!

post by: Fuzzbean at: 22:39 | 11 comments

That sounds like a great day! You can mull the cider - yum. Also, you can use it to bake bread and maybe even home made ice cream?

posted by MonkeyButter 11 October | 22:57

Ice cream!

posted by ethylene 11 October | 23:27

I love cider. I even brine my turkey in it for thanksgiving, and baste it with it. The gravy turns out freaking awesome.
I bet it would work with chicken, too.

posted by kellydamnit 12 October | 01:02

Sounds like a lovely day... I was up in Connecticut at my mom's yesterday, and the trees there have more color. Bright reds and yellows and orange. I love the changing leaves. Enjoy your cider!

posted by Pips 12 October | 06:59

I went to a cider pressing party. . .after standing out in the cold dicing LOTS of apples, we could not get the new cheap cider press to work. . .so a neighbor of the host took it home to make sauce . . .it was frustrating. . .but this thing was just not designed well.

posted by danf 12 October | 09:50

2.5 gallons is just enough to drink every day with every meal before it starts to ferment. I grew up near apple orchards, and one of my absolute fave things to do as a kid was to get fresh cider and hot cinnamon sugar donuts. Nom nom nom!

posted by Stewriffic 12 October | 13:25

Cider doughnuts! This one sounds better and is the one I had bookmarked but I'm inclined to trust Coconut & Lime more

Also, apparently, left to its own devices the cider will go hard (yummy!) but then turn to vinegar?

posted by moonshine 12 October | 16:06

Lovely day!

You can drink the cider even when it's starting to ferment. It gets delightfully fizzy and mildly alcoholic.

posted by Miko 13 October | 10:56

It freezes well.
I use it in apple butter, but that's a labor of love.

posted by plinth 13 October | 20:06

I was actually thinking about making apple butter, plinth. Apples are cheap right now...

Blasted grad school. It gets in the way of all the fun stuff.

I'm *definitely* making this butternut squash souffle. I've made it before and it is HELLA tasty.

posted by Fuzzbean 13 October | 20:28

Oh my goodness. I just read what apple butter is - being unfamiliar with it, though intrigued.

I want. Muchly. Will have to get my butt into gear and try making it.

Although - my last attempt at making something went disastrously. The cake recommended to me in this thread tasted delicious, but looked like a cow pat, and the red wine mustard I tried making also was a complete disaster.

I would make a terrible housewife.

posted by jonathanstrange 13 October | 22:40

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