Posted on 12/19/2006 7:18:06 PM PST by Coleus
Brings back a memory . . .
My RN wife and I had just arrived in Spokane the day before--or there abouts--to live upstairs of another Christian Shrink and his wife and two kids in a large former RC parish house on South Hill.
He had just gotten a new apple cider press.
He thought it quite kosher to chunk the apples in the cider press worms and all.
But the best was yet to come.
Both kids had colds. Runny noses and the whole sheeebang.
Both kids would take a bite of apple . . . snot running freely down onto the apple being bitten into . . . and after a bite or two of the mucus anointed apple . . . in it would go into the cider press with the worms and all the rest.
Whereupon daddy would offer RN wife and I a drink of the gloriously fresh apple juice/cider.
We . . . restraining out gag reflexes . . . declined as graciously as we could. I think I actually took a courtesy sip or two. Wife did not let any touch her lips, as I recall.
People can sure be funny. Especially the guy in my mirror.
I am sure home school people do that as to many private schools like the Waldorf School.
And if you lay it by, in a keg, well ambrosia is one of the few words that come to mind.
Cider pressing with a bunch of friends and a nice bring a dish to pass meal is a blast. We are missing so much because we don't do things like this in our culture any more.
"We are missing so much because we don't do things like this in our culture any more."
Yes we are, Metmom!
I have a ton of apple trees, but weather-depending they don't produce well each year. I let Nature do her thing; no chemicals for me, and my area is famous for a late frost after the trees have all bloomed, so it's an every-four year event.
On years when we have a bounty, we borrow the old Cider Press from the in-laws. It weighs about a million pounds, so I need All Hands on Deck to move the d@mn thing, LOL!
We've had great time doing just what you suggested. Pressing cider, drinking fresh apple juice, setting some aside for Hard Cider and the chickens just LOVE crushed up apples.
Good times. :)
If you add some yeast and sugar and put it in the cellar, (or linen closet) it will be real good in about a month....
When I was a small kid my father would take us to nearby orchards and get fresh pressed cider. Of course, the orchards are gone now. And all the cider I've seen in stores in years is pasturuized.
That cider we used to get was like nectar of the gods.
I wonder why people think that good farmland can be neglected or covered with houses and shopping centers forever. Nothing is as valuable as good rich farmland.
I've got an orchard with a number of cider apple trees. The problem is that, even though I'm in the Manzano Mountains of NM (manzano means apple in espanol) the weather, water and altitude mean a good crop only every 5-8 years. Tough, but worth it.
Late frosts really are a bummer.
Cider freezes beautifully. We use empty rinsed out soda bottles and leave some head space for it to expand. Since the caps screw on so tightly, they hardly ever leak.
Is that near Silver City? Got a friend in Albuquerque who wants to buy some property near a place of that name. (I think I got it right). He says it's mountainous, around 6000 feet, and has some pine and rivers.
He's not a rich man, either.
I have more gallon milk jugs saved than I'll ever be able to fill with cider. ;)
The Manzanos are the range just east and a bit south of Albuquerque. The Sandias are just east and alongside Albuquerque. SIlver City is more in the SW corner of the state. Pretty country all.
Thanks! I've visited him in Albuquerque highway 40 is about all I've seen of NM.
Take 40 about 10 miles east of Albuquerque and visit Tijeras sometime! :)
Next time we drive through that way, we will!
Quix,
There is nothing like it. I grew up near an orchard which had the best pressed cider you would ever drink. One of my high school friends worked there and ran the cider press. They used to store the cider in huge refrigerated barrel like vats and would fresh pour you a 1/2 gallon or gallon jug. It's taste was amazing.
True. It is a great drink.
But, please, spare me the fresh virus infested nasal mucus as an added ingrediant!
It will be the most fascinating 3 minutes of your life! :)
If you ever get a chance, the orchards up in Dixon NM produce some fantastic apples. Plus the scenery is good too.
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