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Step 2A word about apples
Making apples into delicious beverages is a very old practice and has a rich history and culture about it. Apples themselves are a very important fruit, especially in American culture. Before the sugar trade exploded, American pioneers and rural folk really didn't have a lot of sweet food in their diets and apples were very prized as a crop for this reason.
Johnny Appleseed was in fact an Applejacker, meaning that he made apples into the hard liquor Applejack. If you want to learn more about Johnny Appleseed or the remarkable history of apples, I recommend you pick up the book "The Botany of Desire."
Anyway, the point is, apples are awesome and to make apple cider you need a heck of a lot of them (1 bushel = 42 lbs of apples = 3 gallons of juice). It's good to have a mix of apples if possible in about a 1:2 ratio. For instance 10 lbs Red Delicious to 20 Lbs Granny Smith will yield a nice, dry cider, while 10 lbs Macintosh and 20 lbs Cortland will be a much sweeter mix.
Johnny Appleseed was in fact an Applejacker, meaning that he made apples into the hard liquor Applejack. If you want to learn more about Johnny Appleseed or the remarkable history of apples, I recommend you pick up the book "The Botany of Desire."
Anyway, the point is, apples are awesome and to make apple cider you need a heck of a lot of them (1 bushel = 42 lbs of apples = 3 gallons of juice). It's good to have a mix of apples if possible in about a 1:2 ratio. For instance 10 lbs Red Delicious to 20 Lbs Granny Smith will yield a nice, dry cider, while 10 lbs Macintosh and 20 lbs Cortland will be a much sweeter mix.
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Oct 2, 2011. 5:30 PMjfarina3
says:
I have to disagree about the mix of apples. The best batches i've had have come from one variety, which in my case was Jona Free.
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