Cider making time at the ol' homestead.

[Mule Packer]

Once again it's time to make apple cider. This is a tradition in our family that goes back 32 years ago after I restored an old cider press that had the patent date of June 22, 1877.

This weekend, a couple of my sons and their families came out to the homestead where the grandkids got to help squeeze cider. The kids love drinking it right from the spout. But we have to warn them to keep it down to just a few ounces at a time because too much of the stuff at once is just asking for trouble...if you know what I mean.

So, here's a toast to all of you. Cheers! Great stuff! If you happen to be in the neighborhood, drop by.

 

[AJ]

Have some friends in Western Pennsylvania that do the same thing. They will press some when we get there at the end of the month. Will pick up some homemade apple butter too.

Gonna let that cider get hard?

 

[Mule Packer]

Gonna let that cider get hard?

Nope. I always tease Ms. Judy by telling people that she tucks a gallon behind the hot water heater every year for a couple of months...just for medicinal purposes.

Of course, she always gives me a healthy jab in the ribs with her elbow whenever I make that comment.

 

[AJ]

Nope. I always tease Ms. Judy by telling people that she always tucks a gallon behind the hot water heater for a couple of months...just for medicinal purposes.

Of course, she always gives me a healthy jab in the ribs with her elbow whenever I make that comment.

That's no fun! Tastes good though...........

 

[gman51]

Nothing in the grocery stores compares to the old fashioned home made apple cider.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Chip, once again, that looks idyllic.

JR has his first kindergarten field trip coming up. They are going to Parky's Farm (owned by the county). Barnyard animals, ponies, cider makin' and punkin pickin'.

I can't go but his teacher will be taking pics.

We're we ever that young?

 

[shouldazagged]

You have a fine-looking family, and I wish I could taste that splendid cider.

What variety or varieties of apples do you press?

 

[Mule Packer]

What variety or varieties of apples do you press?

This year, the main base of our cider is Empire apples ( a cross between a McIntosh and a Delicious). The rest was a mix of Honey Gold, Blondee (often called a "yellow Gala), Jonathan, and Fuji.

The resulting flavor is a fairly sweet cider with a bit of a bite. Overall, pretty good.

We wound up with a little over 21 gallons. I still have one tree that still needs to be harvested and a few other apples we didn't press that I'll put in the fruit dryer to make dried apples. I'm still drying plums. Probably won't finish drying all of those until late next week. (Whew!)

 

[Rustyt1953]

Chip, do you use the solid remnants as feed or fertilizer?

 

[steveno]

across the river from Frankfurt is Sachsenhausen which is noted a very good place for applewine



[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lxSCqrgOMc[/ame]

 

[sureshotbob]

Chip boy does that bring back memories . I use to help my old Farmer and hunting partner every fall we used to make about 10 gallons or so at a time. It was very good but as you said its best not to drink too much at a time.
Sometime at the last pressing we would let a gallon or 2 turn hard.1 time we even made a 1/2 pint of apple jack by freezing some of the hard cider and getting the strait alcohol out of it.

 

[ACP230]

I have a couple gallons of hard cider in waiting.
Made it in the spring from bought cider. Would like to
try some of the local apples sometime and know a guy
who bought a press last year. Ironically last fall was one
of the worst for wild apples that I've ever seen.

 

[Mule Packer]

Chip, do you use the solid remnants as feed or fertilizer?

When we were raising a pig or two each year, I'd feed the stuff to the hogs. I've also given some of it to the chickens.

Nowadays, though, I usually just put it on the compost pile. The chickens can pick through it there if they want.

This year, our two younger sons, Sam and Paul (those pictured), sampled some of the solid remnants. In the past, the leftovers pretty much tasted like sawdust. This year, for some reason, they were still pretty tangy.

Paul suggested that we dry some in the fruit dryer and give 'em a try. So, I've got a few in the dryer now. We'll see how they turn out.

 

[kthom]

Mule Packer,
You have opened my memory bank! Back in the 70's, my regular patrol territory was everything east of Alamogordo in Otero County, NM. The first 19 miles east from US 70 on the north side of Alamo took you from 4000 feet elevation to near 10,000 at Cloudcroft. The section from about 5000 to 6000 feet up or so was filled with apple orchards, as was several miles much further east where the elevation dropped from Cloudcroft over a much longer distance and there were also some large apple orchards in that area. When the apples got ripe enough to start eating, I always had some with me in the howl car, and I also knew where the orchards were that had apple cider presses in operation. I became the "official" sampler for them, and the first thing I found was that I needed to be very careful how much I sampled in how many places over the period of an afternoon. As you know, different kinds of apples make different tasting cider, so I soon figured out where the kind I liked best were located and confined most of my "testing" to those places.

That experience pretty much ruined me from buying any store bought apple cider. And carrying those fresh crop apples in the howl car also taught me that if apples got loose in the floorboard, one could get up underneath the brake pedal and pretty much totally change a quick braking experience! This in a place where the bottom of the ditch on on side of the pavement was a hundred or more feet below the elevation of the highway!!!! Yikes!!!!

And yes, after I got really well acquainted there, I had the opportunity to sample some of the hard stuff which I would take home with me usually in a pint fruit jar. Couldn't be imbibing whilst on duty, of course! Some of that was not too bad! Didn't take much of it for me though. But that fresh apple cider from the best tasting apples really made an impression on me that I'll never forget! Looks like you and your family have got it down to a science. My family also enjoyed other fruit, usually fresh as well as dried, that was grown in the same area, big red cherries, prune plums, and other good stuff. Needless to say, that stuff all had a salubrious effect on my digestive tract! Had to be careful about that too! We had a nice tasting big apricot tree where we lived for 40 years in eastern NM and we always dried as many as we could get dried when the freeze didn't get the crop. Miss Sheila got to be a good hand at making fried dried apricot pies over the years. Me and the boys never could find a quitting place on those! No doubt yall had a great family time together taking care of those good looking apples! (Great looking bunch of family too, BTW!) Good on y'all!

 

[Salty RI]

Years ago we used to make cider, I remember one year I drank many glasses, the next day I spent many hours sitting with my buddy John. [emoji1]

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

 

[gman51]

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. To many glasses of real apple cider will keep you close to the toilet. Yes it really is true to much of a good thing can be bad. LOL

A friend of mine that was a little naïve when in the scouts won a prune eating contest. LOL I don't think he won really. I do believe that was once contest he will never forget.

 

[old bear]

Chip, nice looking sons and Great Kids, I assume they favor their mom's side of the family

 

[amazingflapjack]

Thanks for sharing! By the way, how's the GTO coming along??

 

[steveno]

when you go to Frankfurt this is the place to drink applewine and eat some really good food. been to this place quite a few times




Apfelweingastst"atte Dauth-Schneider

 

[mtgianni]

We pressed apples when living in Missoula and I believe drew in every yellow jacket in the county. Cider freezes well and makes some great candies.

 

[Muley Gil]

I bought a gallon jug of cider once. I had it in the kitchen of my grandmother's house. One morning, woke up and found that the jug had exploded, the neck and the cap left a dent in the ceiling. Sticky glass was all over the floor. It was a mess to clean up.

 

[shouldazagged]

Mule Packer,
...We had a nice tasting big apricot tree where we lived for 40 years in eastern NM and we always dried as many as we could get dried when the freeze didn't get the crop. Miss Sheila got to be a good hand at making fried dried apricot pies over the years. Me and the boys never could find a quitting place on those!...

I enjoyed your whole story, Ken, but the part about the dried fruit fried pies put me into serious time travel.

I love all pretty much all dried fruit, but especially apricots and peaches. I've been known to combine the two in a conventional baked pie, but I've never tried making fried pies the way my grandmother used to. Apricot sounds fantastic.

Now I'm wondering how apricot and prune, or apricot and dried mango, would work.

Damn.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

Great story and photos. Dried apples make great fried apple pies! Have some in the freezer now.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[Salty RI]

Im sure that prune will keep you close to home. [emoji1]

I enjoyed your whole story, Ken, but the part about the dried fruit fried pies put me into serious time travel.

I love all pretty much all dried fruit, but especially apricots and peaches. I've been known to combine the two in a conventional baked pie, but I've never tried making fried pies the way my grandmother used to. Apricot sounds fantastic.

Now I'm wondering how apricot and prune, or apricot and dried mango, would work.

Damn.

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

 

[kthom]

I enjoyed your whole story, Ken, but the part about the dried fruit fried pies put me into serious time travel.

I love all pretty much all dried fruit, but especially apricots and peaches. I've been known to combine the two in a conventional baked pie, but I've never tried making fried pies the way my grandmother used to. Apricot sounds fantastic.

Now I'm wondering how apricot and prune, or apricot and dried mango, would work.

Damn.

I really can't imagine any dried fruit pie that wouldn't be a treat! For me, using the dried fruit takes a fried pie to an entirely diffferent level. I'm sure it would do the same for a conventional baked pie. One caution about dried fruit, if you like it well and are not very careful, it's possible to eat about a half of bushel of the fresh stuff after it's dried before you know it. Besides the sugar overdose you'll get, it will also likely lubricate your digestive track with not so pleasant results. Use caution!! Good fried pies are nearly as dangerous!!!

 

[Rustyt1953]

kthom, how true. I once went through a bag of dried apricots on a tour bus where the unbreakable rule is "the bathroom is only for #1."

Lesson learned.

 

[Absalom]

Years ago we used to make cider, I remember one year I drank many glasses, the next day I spent many hours sitting with my buddy John. [emoji1]

Being an old guy with issues, I'm getting some useful ideas here I hadn't considered

 

[caduceus]

Makes me remember a passage from the Fox Fire series of books which as I understand was interviews with elderly folks who lived in the Appalachian region. Essentially how they made all sorts of food.tools.guns etc. Documenting their way of life. A elderly man was explaining how they made apple butter. Asked him how it tasted. Best compliment I ever heard , "if you put a dab on your forehead your tongue will slap your brains out trying to get a taste".

 

[AJ]

Makes me remember a passage from the Fox Fire series of books which as I understand was interviews with elderly folks who lived in the Appalachian region. Essentially how they made all sorts of food.tools.guns etc. Documenting their way of life. A elderly man was explaining how they made apple butter. Asked him how it tasted. Best compliment I ever heard , "if you put a dab on your forehead your tongue will slap your brains out trying to get a taste".

A friend of mine in Western Pa. will be picking up 30 quarts of fresh home made apple butter at a Gas & Steam Engine Society Meet next weekend.

 

[caduceus]

AJ let's us know how it tasted