Home Cider-Making

Fresh apple cider has been part of our fall family get-togethers ever since I was a kid. Auntie Annie, Uncle Bill, and my cousins made apple cider every year, a few blocks from us in Willowdale. They “bottled” it in old milk cartons or, sometimes, unlabelled red-and-white cartons that Uncle Bill had bought somewhere. Then they’d drop by for a visit with a couple of cartons. It was delicious.

It was a family tradition that I didn’t think anything of at the time.

One Thanksgiving, after I had grown up, we got together with my aunt, uncle and cousins and made cider while the turkey was roasting in the oven. It was then that I started to appreciate what a good opportunity cider making was to hang out together.

Apple Season

I enjoy fall trips to apple orchards. There is nothing quite like polishing a freshly picked apple on my shirt and then taking a bite. The smell reminds me of childhood walks with my dad past an old apple tree in Willowdale that had very sour apples: We’d kick fallen apples, hoping that we could make one last for the two-block walk home. I enjoy apple shopping, too—bins full of apples at roadside stands smell divine. And when I find an orchard selling something different from the grocery store—maybe a spicy ‘Tolman Sweet’ or the white-fleshed ‘Snow’—I feel as though I’ve struck gold.

Making Cider

My apple cider press is fairly simple. A metal-studded wooden cylinder grinds the apples, then the apple bits fall into a slatted tub where I use a hand-operated screw press to press them.

Apple juice runs down the tub into a tray and pours out of a hole into our cups. We guzzle the first few glasses. Then we fill jugs for immediate use, and freezer-safe containers to store cider for later in the year.

My wife Shelley rinsing apples for pressing into cider.

Some years October presents summer-like weather, and the drowsy yellowjackets hang out with us, intoxicated by the smell of the apples; other years, there are flurries, so we dress warmly.

Cidering 2.0

Hand-grinding apples is fun at first, but less so after a dozen bushels! My mechanical aptitude is marginal, but I knew it was possible to install a small electric motor on the grinder. Lucky for me, my friend Dave took one look at the press and knew what to do.

Some presses, like my Uncle Bill’s, have two tubs. But my press has only one tub to both catch apple from the grinder and press it. That means I can’t press and grind simultaneously.

Luckily, my friend Tony gave me an old grape press which solved the bottleneck. Now I can grind the apples on my original unit while I press cider on Tony’s grape press. Not only is the tub on his press much bigger than mine, but the screw press has better compression, so I can squeeze out more cider.

Motor

Grape Press

Hand Grinding

Cider vs. Cider

The word “cider” confuses: It makes some people think of sweet, fresh-pressed juice (sweet cider), while others think of its more potent fermented cousin (hard cider).

Making hard cider is another reason for a get-together. My friends Dave and Rob have collaborated with me for a few batches.

Fermenting carboys of cider fill the basement with a delicious smell. We’ve tried the all-natural approach, letting naturally occurring yeasts on the apples drive the fermentation. The result tasted a bit like … socks. Champagne yeast gives us better results. Batches not fit for drinking are useful in the kitchen (see my Cider-Making Tips below).

Cider-Making Tips

APPLE PRESS. I’ve never seen them for sale in stores, but you can find both new and used presses online. Be warned: they are not cheap. But I’d say they offer better long-term value than a new large-screen TV.

APPLE SHOPPING. There’s no need for blemish-free apples. Go to roadside stands or orchards and look for “C” (sometimes called “cee”) grade apples, which are misshapen, blemished, or smaller or larger than retailers want. Some varieties are juicier than others: ‘Macintosh,’ for example, is quite juicy, while ‘Russets’ are more dry and mealy (but they can be very sweet!). Some varieties are sweet, some are tart, some are aromatic—and some are astringent. For a more complex flavour, especially if you’re fermenting it, try to use a blend. One year I saw a couple of pecks of crabapples for sale so added them to the apples I was grinding for a carboy of hard cider. Crabapples often have more tannins, which can be a nice addition. Another year, my friend Dave picked the crabapples growing in the schoolyard.

STORING CIDER. Refrigerate fresh cider. It will last 1 to 2 weeks in the fridge before it begins to ferment. For freezing, milk cartons and plastic juice bottles work well. Don’t fill containers to the top because cider expands as it freezes, and you’ll end up with a bunch of little cider volcanoes in your freezer.

CIDER FOR COOKING. I use lots of cider in my cooking. My approach to French onion soup combines consommé, red wine, and apple cider that have simmered all day. Apple-cider baked beans are a big hit with my kids. And I use cider in marinades and glazes.

GROWING APPLES. Growing apples in an urban garden is hit and miss. Some years the old ‘Mutsu’ apple tree in my yard is laden; other years start off well until the squirrels make off with nearly all of the fruit. Without thinning, apples tend to bear fruit in alternate years. I grew espaliered apple trees with some unusual cider apple varieties: some died because of a nearby black walnut tree; and the others, which were coming along nicely, have just been gnawed back to the trunk by a squirrel that used the branches to make a nest. Maybe next year…