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| bad apples! |
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| N picking apples |
We were pleased to notice that the roadsides around South Gippsland are dotted with ripening spots of red and gold from December through March. Wild plums come first, just on Christmas, then sprays of apples - literally in their hundreds - light up the roadside as summer turns into autumn. Well, said we: we aren't going to let them go to waste! And, so, a few weeks ago we picked a few bags full of apples, from two different trees to test. The first lot were good eating, crisp and sweet and just so right. But the second lot were dry, floury and pucker-your-mouth-up sour. Even the chooks turned their beaks up! But all was not lost because there is one thing sour apples are good for, and that is something very good: apple cider! We used this classic NZ recipe, and found that in the unseasonable March heat we've had in Australia, the fermentation went right off.
Kiwi Apple Cider:
- 1.5kg of sour, wild apples- 5 litres water- 750g raw sugar- juice & zest of 2 large lemons
Wash and chop apples (cores and all) and blend in a food processor until they're blitzed into tiny pieces. Place apple pulp and water in a large crock (we use a Harsch crock), and cover with a tea-towel. Stir with a sterile long-armed spoon (we use a brewers spoon). Leave the mixture for a week, stirring once in the morning and once a night with your sterilised implement. It will get bubbly and smell amazing. After a week, strain the apple pulp mix through a clean tea towel (squeeze out all the apple goodness!), and return the strained juice to the crock with sugar and lemon juice/zest. Stir well. Leave to ferment for another 48 hours (enough time to make a batch of rhubarb fizz if you're so inclined!) Using a funnel pour mixture into cleaned PET soft drink bottles. Don't do what we did and bottle them in glass bottles. That is a recipe for disaster, as we can tell you, after half of our first batch exploded in the kitchen last week (luckily we weren't in the kitchen at the time!)
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| Bubbly apples! |
Kiwi Apple Cider:
- 1.5kg of sour, wild apples- 5 litres water- 750g raw sugar- juice & zest of 2 large lemons
Wash and chop apples (cores and all) and blend in a food processor until they're blitzed into tiny pieces. Place apple pulp and water in a large crock (we use a Harsch crock), and cover with a tea-towel. Stir with a sterile long-armed spoon (we use a brewers spoon). Leave the mixture for a week, stirring once in the morning and once a night with your sterilised implement. It will get bubbly and smell amazing. After a week, strain the apple pulp mix through a clean tea towel (squeeze out all the apple goodness!), and return the strained juice to the crock with sugar and lemon juice/zest. Stir well. Leave to ferment for another 48 hours (enough time to make a batch of rhubarb fizz if you're so inclined!) Using a funnel pour mixture into cleaned PET soft drink bottles. Don't do what we did and bottle them in glass bottles. That is a recipe for disaster, as we can tell you, after half of our first batch exploded in the kitchen last week (luckily we weren't in the kitchen at the time!)
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