Apple cider

Foraging diaries # 26: apples.

What else to do with the apples I foraged in November? Why not cider? I don't particularly like it but my partner drinks.

This recipe comes from Darina Allen's Forgotten skills of cooking. It ends with 'store in a cold dry place until Christmas'. It doesn't say exactly how long to store it for but my plan was to leave it until after the New Years before opening to give it at least 1 month.

We opened it in mid-January as I left the bottles in a dark cupboard and forgot about them.

It was definitely fizzy and tasted of apples. However, as I did not use cooking apples, it doesn't taste as good as it could taste.

Do not bottle the cider in large bottles unless you are drinking it all in one go or sharing. The fizziness disappears almost immediately!

Serves: almost 3 litres.

Ingredients:

• 1kg cooking apples
• 2.5 litters cold water
• 300g sugar
• 15g fresh ginger, grated
• 1 cinnamon stick

Method:

1. Grate the apples into a stainless steel container and cover with the water. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Stir with a sterilised spoon every day for a week. It will ferment!
   
   
   
3. Strain.
   
   
   
4. Stir the sugar into the juice then add the spices and leave to macerate for a day.
   
   
   
5. Strain through a clean muslin and pour into sterilised bottles and seal well.
   
   
   
6. Store in a cold dry place until Christmas.