[Leica] Fruit into alcohol

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

Tina, I get tired just thinking of dealing with construction stuff and
spending all this time in the kitchen in that weather. Given all the canning
etc. you have done, what are you going to do with next year's crop? The
cider seems a good solution, any time you can turn fruit into an alcoholic
beverage, it is a Good Thing :-)

Cheers,
Nathan

It's interesting that you should say that, Nathan. Apple juice in apple
heavy New York State sells for about $2 a gallon during the apple harvesting
season. Sometimes less.  What else are the growers going to do with all the
bruised and insect eaten apples? We have been converting the apple juice
into hard apple cider for years. The process is absurdly simple. We just
pour a couple of liters of juice into an empty 2 liter plastic soda bottle,
add a teaspoon of baking yeast, cap and set in a moderately warm place. In
about a week the process is done. The apple juice turns to hard cider with
about the same alcoholic content as beer. The cap keeps in the carbon
dioxide gas so that it is nicely fizzy. The soda bottles are strong and
won't burst. You have to remember to sample it from time to time during the
fermentation to get it to the desired taste. The longer it ferments, the
less sweet and the more alcoholic it becomes. If you let it ferment too long
you end up with a 2 liter bottle of apple vinegar. But much better vinegar
than you can buy at the store. For a real kick, you can freeze the cider.
The alcohol freezes last. You can pour off some of the liquid and have a
fair imitation of apple jack or Calvados.
Larry Z