Making Apple Cider, Part 4

“It's time to walk to the cider mill
Through air like apple wine,
And watch the moon rise over the hill,
stinging and hard and fine.”

     ~ Stephen Vincent Benét, John Brown’s Body

 

Part 4

Thirty bushels of apples have been picked, sorted, loaded, driven to the cider mill, unloaded, washed, chopped, mashed, and squeezed. Their dry innards have been fed to cows. What's left?

 

Why, the good part, that's what!

 

Every drop of juice gets piped to a large holding tank that is fitted with a row of spigots.

 

Bottling (or in this case, jugging) the cider is not quite as hairy of a chore as the one Lucy and Ethel faced with trying to keep up with boxing chocolates, but it does take a certain rhythm and several people to do the job efficiently. The good part about it is that if for some reason a person gets behind, say in capping for instance, each individual spigot can be opened and closed when needed. Jim never likes to be idle, so he generally helps bottle the cider.

 

 

Remember the big crates? Now empty of apples, it begins to fill with the finished product.

 

 

 

 

The jugs get rinsed off before adding another layer. When the order has been completed, the crate is then hauled back to the loading dock, and each jug has to be taken out and placed in the crates that we used for bringing the apples to the mill.

 

 

The 30 bushels of apples are now 112 gallons of fresh, sweet apple cider. All that is left for us is to hustle to get it sold. Some of our loyal customers have been with us from the start and, to them, getting their "Gibson Cider" means that Autumn is truly here. I am so thankful for them, as well as our newer customers and, of course, NorthSide Farmers Market. Our work would not be possible without them.

 

If you think that I am done blabbing about cider...better think again! Sure, apple cider is delicious as is, but it does not need to stop there. The next post will give recipe ideas.

 

Marcheta *...work is never done, never done.....

 

 

Making Apple Cider, Part 3

“He Looked and smelt like Autumn's very brother, his face being sunburnt to wheat-colour, his eyes blue as corn-flowers, his sleeves and leggings dyed with fruit-stains, his hands clammy with the sweet juice of apples, his hat sprinkled with pips, and everywhere about him the sweet atmosphere of cider which at its first return each season has such an indescribable fascination for those who have been born and bred among the orchards.”

      Thomas Hardy, The Woodlanders

Part 3 

Finally, the apples are ready to be "pressed". In this installment, you'll see exactly how it is done and why it is called "pressing".

The apples have been washed and chopped into a pulp.  The next station has large bottomless trays which are lined with a thick heavy cotton. As the pulp is piped into the tray, Anthony Meyers moves the hose back and forth to fill the tray to brimming with the golden mash.

When a tray is full, Anthony folds the ends of the cloth over the pulp and adds another tray. When he has enough trays filled, they are moved to the pressing machine.

 2000 pounds of pressure force the deep amber juice from the apples. The juice is piped into a holding tank, where it is treated with UV light. This is our preferred method for assuring that e-coli and its buddies are killed without affecting the taste or quality of the cider.

After every drop possible has been pressed from a stack of trays, Anthony removes them from the press and dumps the pulp into a dumpster. This, again, is heavy work. The pulp is very dry and reminds me of clumps of sawdust. Unlike sawdust, the pulp is a powerhouse of nutrition. And like sawdust, it will not go to waste, there are other uses for it.....

Add caption

...such as dietary supplement for the Meyer's cattle. 

OK, the juice has been pressed from the apples and the cows are fed. Is it time to relax with a nice tall glass of fresh sweet cider or a mug of hot mulled cider? 

Nope.

Not quite yet.

Stay tuned.....

Marcheta * ready to relax

Making Apple Cider, Part 2

“I heard a sound as of scraping tripe, / And putting apples wondrous ripe, / Into a cider- press's gripe.”

Robert Browning

Apple cider has always been a popular beverage, but let's face it; cider did not have to compete with the likes refreshing soft drinks, like colas. Never fear: these days, consumer demand for natural and organic food makes pure apple cider more popular than ever.

Today's post explains the first steps the cider mill took in processing our order.

We had too many apples for the large crate, but not enough to mess with filling another. The extra apples were stacked on top of the load to be transported to the cider making area.

 The bags and crates were hand-loaded into the conveyor.  

 Next, a hydraulic lift tilted the large crate to unload it. As the apples are being moved from the crate to the conveyor, a worker stands by to remove things like leaves or large stems.

Notice that the workers wear ear protection. The noise from the machines can get as loud as a rock concert! 

The apples are collected into a large metal cage, where a stream of water washes away any debris. Then the apples go into a massive chopper. 

At this point, the apples are "half way there" in their transformation from solid to liquid. Tomorrow's photos will show how it is done.

Marcheta *step-by-step

Making Apple Cider, Part 1

 

Apple cider is a pure drink that has only one thing listed on the ingredient label: apples.

Lots of apples.

It takes a full bushel of apples to make three gallons of cider.

Lots of different kinds of apples.

Each apple variety lends its own special characteristic and flavor to the cider. At least three different types of apples are needed to get a good tasting blend.

The apple cider making process begins in the orchard, of course. Apples for cider are usually the ones that are not "pretty" enough or large enough to sell for eating/baking/cooking. After picking apples, we sort the ones for cider into old-fashioned wood crates, which we are slowly replacing with modern plastic crates as we find them at reasonable costs.

Why? After all, the wood crates work just fine and lend a traditional touch to this very traditional practice of making cider. Plastic crates are lighter weight, which is a huge plus for the person loading 30 or more crates of apples. The plastic crates are much easier to clean, and they stack perfectly on each other. And, the big bonus is that the plastic crates are standardized to hold four 1 gallon jugs or nine 1/2 gallon jugs. These factors add up to making transport and delivery much easier. Who wouldn't go for that? But still, I do like our wooden crates...some have been in service to us for 40 years. Can you believe that? I am amazed each time that I realized that 40 decades have passed since Jim and I said "I do" on September 22, 1973!

On a brisk September morning under a brilliant blue sky, Jim and I loaded up a pick-up truck with 30 bushels of apples, using both wooden and plastic crates as well as a few bushel baskets and even several feed sacks stuffed full of apples. Folks, let me tell you, that is a job in itself, apples not exactly being light-weight :)

The apples that went into this batch of cider were Cortland, Jonathan, Golden Delicious, and Red Delicious.

The next step in the process is the drive to the cider mill. State requirements for selling apple cider have resulted in many small cider mills going out of business. To sell cider, it has to either be pasteurized or treated with UV light, which kills e-coli and 5 other pathogens by skipping the boiling process. Boiling does affect the taste of cider, so we opt for UV, which keeps the cider "alive". 

Gone are the days when we could have several choices of having the apples "pressed" at mills within a few miles of our orchard. Now we must venture to Huron County, Ohio, to a state approved facility owned by the Meyer family. The drive takes a little over an hour through scenic Ohio countryside, so I don't mind it too much.

By the time we arrived a the mill, the sky was filling up with clouds and the air took a turn for the colder, which is perfect for making cider, as heat is its enemy. 

We backed our truck to the receiving area, where our apples were off-loaded from our truck and put in huge bins fitted for fork-lift machines. The one used for our cider was man-powered. 

In this picture, Jim and Anthony Meyers, owner of the mill, move our apples into the massive crate. 

Already a lot of work (months of taking care of the orchard, picking, and sorting apples, loading them and trucking to the mill, unloading the multi-colored fruit into the huge bin) has gone into making the cider. But the journey has just begun. Stay tuned to this blog for Part II tomorrow's juicy details :)

Marcheta *detailer

Bushels and Barrels of Fun

Yesterday we took about 30 bushels of apples to Meyer's Cider Mill in Huron County, Ohio, and came home with 88 full gallons and 51 half gallons. That's a lot of apples and a lot of cider! No, the cider was not put in wooden barrels, like the ones in the cider mill's yard, but in modern plastic jugs. Ah, plastic! Not as nostalgic as wooden barrels, but an easy and safe way to deliver the fresh, healthy liquid, so I am thankful for it.

Yesterday was a lot of work, for sure, but today is the busiest day of the week for me. I have to hustle around, sorting apples and loading them and the cider in my car to set up at today's NorthSide Farmers Market.

It's a great day for working outside. The cool air has crisped up a clear blue sky, which is a perfect backdrop for leaves that are just beginning to dress in their autumn colors. The breeze has a few sharp edges, but overall, it is cool, calm, and collected. Which is how I'd like to be able to describe myself, but it is no use. When I am working on any kind of deadline, I cannot relax until I know that I've got everything done. On market days, this usually means that about 5 minutes before the opening bell I am finally able to relax and enjoy the process of growing food for the people in my community :) 

Tomorrow I'll start posting photos that illustrate the step-by-step process of turning solid fruit into liquid refreshment. 

Marcheta *doing the hustle

Noel's Easy Apple Cake

For today's post, I went over to www.apronfreecooking.com and snatched Noel's apple cake recipe. With bushels of apples on the porch, more in crates in the orchard, and even more apples on the trees waiting to be picked before they tumble to the ground, I am always looking for easy apple recipes to use those babies up. Noel's recipe is super easy because the base is a packaged cake mix.

Marcheta *simplicity






Apples have an appeal that goes beyond the flavor. Apples bring to mind images of fall and family activities. Many families make a day of going to pick apples from the orchard and then spend another day making pies and applesauce.

I’m partial to my mom’s apple pie, and since I don’t come close to matching it, I don’t even try. I do however, like to try apple recipes to find new ways to use the fruit.

Easy Apple Cake

Easy Apple Cake

1 (18 oz) yellow cake mix
1 cup applesauce
1 large egg
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 apple

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl, mix the applesauce, egg and cake mix with a wooden spoon until completed mixed together. In a small bowl, dice the apple and mix with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Toss the apple bits until completely coated with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Prepare two loaf pans with a light coating of cooking oil. Spread a quarter of the cake batter in each loaf pan. Sprinkle the apple and sugar mixture over the cake batter. Top the apples with the remaining cake batter – a quarter in each pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Apple Cake Serving with Caramel Topping

How D'Ya Like Them Apples?

Here's a look at what my market stand "sometimes" looks like. Usually I have the tables covered, but the covers were being used for a photography display at The Cracked Pot store in Galion. 

Also, last week was an "off" week for cider.

But the thing is, not only do I help in picking these apples, I have to look at each one while sorting. That's a WHOLE LOT of decisions to make! No wonder that my brain stays fried during harvest season...LOL.

Marcheta *yep. yep. yep. nope. yep.

To Everything There is a Season

And right now, the 'things' in my season are apples and pears. LOTS of apples and pears!

Today I am turning "ugly" fruit into side dishes. I have several baskets of pears and apples that are below quality of what I can sell, but are too good to pitch out for the wildlife to enjoy (as  do the extremely sub-par fruit).

"There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have to agree with Mr. Emerson; since pears can go bad very quickly, I chose to work with them first. And, as usual, I did not have any kind of plan in mind, other than knowing that I did not want to can them. Chunky pear/apple sauce came to mind. I changed that mind when I began peeling the pears because I thought that they look rather nice and can hold their own in the taste department.

After washing, peeling, and chopping the pears, I cooked them for a short while. I added a splash of apple cider to get the cooking started. Just before the pears were done I mixed in a tablespoon of mulling spices (which includes sugar). Other options that could work is to leave the pears alone or add a dash of cinnamon with a couple of teaspoons of sugar or honey.

When the pears were cooked, I put them in freezer containers. They are cooling on the counter before heading for the freezer shelves. When snow flies, these pears will be a nice reminder of this glorious autumn. I'll be thankful for the harvest, and as I am lazing about during long winter nights, I'll also be thankful that the harvest season is over.

Marcheta *seasoned

National Symbols

Here are a few of the wild turkeys that we see a few times each day when they come to wet their whistles at our nature pond. So far, they keep me at a distance and I haven't been able to get a very good picture of them. Who says that turkeys aren't smart?

Later, at the reservoir, I saw a Bald Eagle. It was up high and moving fast. Even though my pic of it isn't fantastic, it is my personal best to date.

Seeing turkeys and Bald Eagles within an hour seems significant, somehow. Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be our national symbol. I do like them, but I am glad that the majestic eagle won out. When I watch one soar to great heights; when I think of how keen their senses and natural instincts are, I agree that the Bald Eagle is the perfect symbol of what our forefathers had in mind for our nation.

Marcheta *bird lover

Summer's End Meets Auntumn's Beginning in Noel's Recipe

Another Tuesday that feels like the race is on to get apples sorted and ready to sell at NorthSide Farmers Market, which begins at 4. Lucky for me, Noel has been blogging longer than I have, and her Apron Free Cooking site is chock full of seasonal food ideas. I gotta tell you, though, I've never heard of pairing zucchini and pumpkin together for a vegetable bread. Noel's recipe sounds yummy, and is a good way to use up surplus "zukes" (as she calls zucchinis!).

Marcheta *learning something new every day

P.S. isn't the graphic of Noel shedding her apron just the best?

Noel writes:

This article originally published in the Galion Inquirer on  September 14, 2011.


Zucchini Pumpkin Bread

What are we going to do with the zucchini now? Sometimes too much of a good thing can be….well… too much.

 There comes a point where my daughter won’t eat anything without spending five minutes inspecting the meal in detail. She’s figured out that I’ve been dicing, chopping and shredding zucchini into very small bits and mixing it in all kinds of menu items.

I’m going to outsmart her yet!

In the past I’ve tried a recipe for zucchini bread that involves chocolate chips, one that includes bananas and one that bakes up like a cake. My daughter has a super zucchini detector and I’ve not been able to slide those breads past her. My son, on the other hand, spreads the butter and continues to play his video game.


This year though, I think I’ll be able to convince my daughter that zucchini doesn’t deserve the reputation she’s assigned it. I’ve found a recipe for zucchini bread that’s going to convince this vegetable deserves a spot on the “like” list. The secret to this recipe is finely shredded zucchini. Shhh, don’t tell her.



3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts


In a mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Add pumpkin, butter and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until breads test done. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove to a wire rack.


I made this bread for a family gathering and the loaves just disappeared. Nobody asked me how I got the bread to be so moist. Nobody asked if it was a healthy recipe. Nobody asked if there was zucchini in the bread. They just gobbled it up and asked if I had another loaf with me.


So, I’m going to shred up the rest of the zucchini bumper crop and freeze it. I figure if I measure the 1 cup amount required by this recipe into zip top sandwich bags and freeze it, I’ll have an easy time mixing up a loaf of bread whenever I want one.
I think I’ve just found the family Christmas gifts, zucchini pumpkin bread for one and all! Zucchini has a way of bringing people together!


Noel Lizotte is breaking free of corporate stress with convenience cooking! www.apronfreecooking.com

"Chopped Up" Apple Cider (curious? read on!)

 

Yesterday's lunch was another Total Local success story.

I know! 

It's a great feeling. I am proud to share the accomplishment with you in hopes that you will be inspired to design meals around what is local to your own area.

I had planned to make cider baked pork chops, but did not want to tie up the time involved for the baking. Because cider + pork is a marriage made in Heaven, I did not want to ditch the idea of a cider/ pork chop dish and  simply grill the chops. I put my brain cells to work and they came up with a new (for me) idea. 

I poached the pork chops in apple cider. The cider was fresh pressed from our own apples and the chops were from pigs raised by Russ and Mendy Sellman and purchased from their on-farm store, The Farmers Wife (see business page for information). 

When the chops were cooked and most of the cider reduced, I added a bit of oil to the pan and browned them up. Our meal included sauteed yellow squash, purchased at NorthSide Farmers Market, and fresh tomatoes from our garden. Dessert was pear pie, made by Mendy's dad, Dennis, served with milk from Hartzler's Dairy in Wooster and purchased at The Farmers Wife.

I gotta tell you, this "Sunday Dinner" meal was yummy, and it felt great to know that all the food except for the milk came from within a five mile radius of my house. The milk came from a dairy about an hour or so from here. 

Our garden was not the best this year. Thank goodness I live in an area that is full of dedicated market growers and that I have several opportunities a week to shop at farmers markets and/or stores like Russ and Mendy's. :)

Marcheta *living the good life

As American as Apple Pie

Now, these are some really big smiles, eh?

Longtime friend, Burky, came out this morning to purchase a bushel of apples for his sister who owns a Dairy-type of  restaurant in New Washington. 

Why the big smiles? When I took their picture, Jim informed Burky that he was about to be made famous on OJC. 

But I am smiling for another reason. Almost all restaurants these days serve 'factory' food. That is why I search out small, independently owned diners and small restaurants that have reputations for cooking and baking their own foods. To know that Burky's sister is among these people gives me a good feeling about our food system. As long as people support businesses that use locally produced foods, our natural food chain will stay intact. I feel that an area, and a nation, that produces its own food has the most important type of security there is. After all, we can't wage other battles if we are starving, can we? (OK, stepping off my soapbox now!)

Marcheta *smilin' 

Hidden Stars

I think that there may be as many stars right here on Earth as there are in our galaxy, The Milky Way. These stars are hidden from everyday, ordinary viewing, which makes discovering them so delightful.

The star in today's picture is the center of this apple's universe. Cut any apple through the middle and you'll find a star, too. 

Just think, true to its core, each tiny seed has the power to produce a full-sized apple tree, that eventually could produce four or more bushels of apples a year, with a star for each apple's heart! If that isn't something amazing, I don't know what is.

Ohio's countryside is dotted with apple orchards, from large commercial operations to smaller hobby ones, like ours. We have John Chapman's vision to thank for our bounty. Chapman, aka "Johnny Appleseed" spent a great deal of time establishing Ohio's first orchards. His legend is alive today in the heart of the fruits he loved best, making him a true Star of the Orchard. 

Marcheta *star-struck

Natural Beauty

 

Denise does the decorating at one of Galion's historic homes, The Bishop Brown Cottage. For fall, she decided to forage for natural plants and asked me to go along with her. 

Along an abandoned railway, we were on the hunt for bittersweet, which dries to a deep orange center with a bright orange outer layer that peels back as it dries. We did find a small amount, which would have been disappointing except that we found loads of rose hips.

Rose hips are the berries of wild roses. They are rich in vitamin c. Tea can be made from the berries, but I've never attempted to make it. Maybe I'll thy this method from e-how food. Rose hip tea can be bought at health food stores.

When gathering wild things such as rose hips to use for decorative purposes, it is extremely important to not take it all, because these are foods that birds eat during the winter months.

Bittersweet and rose hips are beautiful in fall arrangements. Use caution when gathering wild plants. Long pants will help guard against poison ivy and protect your legs from scratches. Gloves are important because even though different types of rose hips have different kinds of thorns, they are all prickly! But most of all, enjoy the weather and have fun!

When you are home, old canning jars, flower pots, baskets of all sorts, and grapevine wreaths are but a few items to use as base supports. What ideas can you think of for making natural fall decorations?

Marcheta *(rose) hip to be natural

Thar's Gold in Them Thar Fields!

Travel the beautiful Ohio countryside these days, and you'll see a froth of gold on soybean fields. As the soybeans ripen in their pods, the plants will turn a deep golden hue right down to their dark green roots. 

The fields are in different stages of golding up. Some have just begun while others are already turning brown. Most, though, look like the field in today's picture. With goldenrod and brown-eyed Susans chiming in, these are truly Golden Days. And if prices are good, the farmers will be rewarded with gold of another kind. 

I plan to enjoy these days as much as possible, because as the poet Robert Frost observed nearly 100 years ago, Nothing Gold Can Stay.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay. 

Marcheta *having Gilt feelings

Hot Cider, Anyone? (spices optional).

Wouldn't you just know it? The very day we choose to make the first apple cider pressing has to be one of the hottest days of the year :(

We got as many of the 75 gallons put in a spare refrigerator as we could squeeze in and I delivered orders right away, but we still have about half of the cider in the truck. It is parked in the shade and we keep spraying cold water over the jugs. It's a wet job, but at least it works.

 I have my own  apple cider labels designed, but am really pressed for time and decided to have the cider put in pre-labeled jugs. My labels are not as water resistant as Anthony's, so it is really a good thing that I opted to use his labels. Most people know that it is our cider, but I will put a mailing label on the jugs when I set up just to remind them. 

And the ironic part is that by Friday the high temp is forecast at 68, which is perfect apple cider weather.

Oh, well...that's how it goes in Ohio :)

Here is a recipe from Food.com that I like for Cider Baked Pork Chops. I purchased naturally raised pork chops at The Farmers Wife store this morning.


I also have local honey from Dave Duncan. I *was* going to make the dish tomorrow, but have decided to wait until Thursday when the weather will be (just a little bit) cooler.

 

Marcheta *rolling with the punches

It's Cider Time!

This truckload of full apple crates will be heading to the cider press tomorrow morning. We still have a few apples to sort, but basically this is it for this time. Some trees are slower to ripen, but since we don't have a cold storage facility to keep this batch from rotting, we'll go with a smaller pressing. 

Of course, apple cider is a healthy and refreshing beverage, but did you know that it is also excellent for cooking? Adding cider to a pork roast or oven baked pork chops not only adds flavor, but it also tenderizes the meat.

Jelly can also be made from apple cider..after all, the juice has already been prepared! 

What yummy cooking ideas can you think of that include fresh apple cider?

Marcheta *thinking, thinking.....

Good Egg/Better Egg

 

These pictures show two ways that we can buy eggs in our area. 

One is from the grocery store. I am sure that it is a good enough egg. The carton of one dozen cost about $1.80 and was graded as "large Grade A" Amish from Holmes County, Ohio (about 2 hours from my town).

The other egg was purchased at 'Lil Farmers Market in Bucyrus, Ohio. The carton of eggs cost $2.00 and was not graded, but the lid to the carton (made for extra large eggs) would not completely shut. The vendor is from Crawford County and lives about half an hour from my place.

One is brown. One is white. One has a deep golden yolk. One has a pale yellow yolk. One kept its yolk and white intact when I broke it open. One had a watery part to the white that spread out over the dish when I broke it.

The market vendor's eggs are only a few days old. I don't have any way of knowing how old the Holmes County eggs are, but since the facility is rather close to home compared to where other food comes from, I'd say I am safe in thinking that the eggs are fairly fresh.

I don't have access to scientific measuring tools to compare nutritional value, but I don't need to because I know which egg I'd rather eat just from the facts listed above.

**POP QUIZ**

Can you guess which egg came from the farmer's market and which on came from the grocery store?

Good for you! 

Marcheta *and good for me, too :)

Perfectly Imperfect

This row of pears are fresh off the limbs of one of our Bartlett pear trees. 

When I see grocery store fruit, which is picked green, treated with spray and wax and put in cold storage for up to a year before it becomes available to purchase, I see something wrong with our system of food supply. Sure, the fruit is considered to be "beautiful" because it looks so pretty, but beauty has its price; such fruit has lost nutrition as well as flavor. 

It doesn't have to be this way.

Go to any farmers market or on-site farm stand, and you will see perfectly "imperfect" produce that isn't chemically impaired. When food is left to ripen on the trees or vines, what do you get?

Full flavor.

Optimal nutrition.

Now if that is not perfection, I don't know what is!

Marcheta *imperfect and proud of it