Cottage Cider 1 -

Cottage Cider 1

Ingredients

Dessert or cider apples
Raisins
Campden tablets
Water
White sugar
Yeast

Method

Wash the apples and grate or mince them. The grater should be made of aluminium or plastic and the mincer of stainless steel or covered with baked enamel; the ordinary zinc plated meat mincer must not be used. Squeeze the pulp in small batches through a thick cloth, knitted nylon is extremely good for this, running the juice into a tall jug. Shake the residue into a bowl and mix with approximately the same volume of warm water. Leave for one hour then squeeze out again adding this extract to the first.

Measure the volume of the combined extracts and to every gallon add three crushed Campden tablets and a handful of chopped raisins, stir well, and return to the jug. Cover with a thick cloth and leave three days, stirring the contents twice daily. Add the yeast and keep the jug in a warm room; fermentation may not start for several more days, since the yeast is restrained for a time by the sulphur dioxide from the Campden tablets that are added to kill any bacteria derived originally from the fruit. Once fermentation starts, leave until gas bubbles are no longer formed and then strain through very fine muslin.

Pour the liquid into large jars, fill them and cork. Leave in a cold room for several weeks or until the cider becomes fairly clear. Syphon off the cider leaving the yeast deposit behind, dissolve 1 lb. of sugar in every gallon of cider, bottle in champagne bottles, cork and tie down. Store the bottles on their sides in a cool cellar for three months when the cider should be sparkling.

Related food category:

• Ciders and Perries