Here's an awesome You Tube clip that celebrates another family tradition that's at the core of Home Make It's vision - for family and friends to create their own homemade food and beverages. This week we are taking a look at Apple Cider. Autumn is the best time to make Apple Cider. There is always an abundance of apples around at this time of year.
Do your apple trees have an abundance of apples this Autumn and you don't know what to do with them all? You've eaten them, preserved them, baked them and cooked with them. Now what? Don't leave them to rot. You can make Apple Cider with them!
Or, like me, you don't grow apple trees, you just love drinking the stuff! It seems, that we're not alone. There has been a massive boom in the Cider Industry, with the humble apple getting a new lease on life. The popularity of Apple Cider continuing to grow nationwide. In fact, cider is reportedly surpassing all other alcoholic brands in Australia with soaring sales growth being recorded.
Making Apple Cider is fun, easy and really rewarding. For the family we watched in the You Tube clip, this is an annual tradition of theirs. They were using the Cider Press that had been refurbished by one of their late fathers. You can see from the clip that it's something the whole family can join in on and they were proud of this tradition.
The beauty of making Apple Cider, is that you don't even have to use fresh apples to make it! You can buy store bought apple juice and ferment it yourself. Here's a great article titled "Making Apple Cider in 5 Easy Steps", by County Farm Lifestyles which covers both fresh apples and store bought apple juice. It gives step by step instructions for both processes and is easy to follow.
We have all the equipment that you will need, or if you're only making it on a small scale, you can find everything you need to use in your own kitchens. Our team at Home Make It are always happy to give advice and recipes, so please call into the stores or call us for any queries. We have comprehensive step by step instructions for making Apple Cider with fresh apples available to you. You can also make Cider with other fruits, including the increasingly popular Pear Cider and Strawberry Cider. Same process, different flavour :)
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APPLE CIDER “Home Make It” Style! (We're cheating here...just a little)
Ingredients:
- Black Rock Cider
- 2Lt Apple &/or Pear Juice from the supermarket (up to 4lts can be used for a softer flavour)
- 500gm of sugar or dextrose
Soften base by standing tin in approx 2Lt of boiling water in a saucepan or in a kitchen sink.
Pour into a stainless steel cooking pot, whisk in the juice and dextrose.
When completely mixed, pour into the fermenter.
Top up to 18Lt total (no more otherwise it will be too thin).
Wait for temperature to drop to 20-22 degrees.
Prepare the yeast.
Add the nutrient, yeast and airlock.
Because it’s a Champagne yeast it will ferment out in 5-6 days.
Temperatures need to be at or below 22 degrees (18-22 degrees at best).
When bottling treat as normal beer.
These ciders are quiet dry in flavour.
They can be sweetened by adding saccharin tablets just before bottling; 5-6 tablets depending on the acquired sweetness.
Like beer leave for 6-8 weeks to mature in bottling.
It's as simple as that! Enjoy!
Pour into a stainless steel cooking pot, whisk in the juice and dextrose.
When completely mixed, pour into the fermenter.
Top up to 18Lt total (no more otherwise it will be too thin).
Wait for temperature to drop to 20-22 degrees.
Prepare the yeast.
Add the nutrient, yeast and airlock.
Because it’s a Champagne yeast it will ferment out in 5-6 days.
Temperatures need to be at or below 22 degrees (18-22 degrees at best).
When bottling treat as normal beer.
These ciders are quiet dry in flavour.
They can be sweetened by adding saccharin tablets just before bottling; 5-6 tablets depending on the acquired sweetness.
Like beer leave for 6-8 weeks to mature in bottling.
It's as simple as that! Enjoy!
Up Coming Events and Festivals not to be missed!
- Darebin Homemade Food and Wine Festival 13th - 18th May, 2013
- Melbourne International Coffee Expo 23rd-26th May, 2013, Melbourne Showgrounds.
- Fine Food Australia 9th-12th September, 2013 Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre.
- Melbourne Salami Festa Mid September, 2013 (Date to be confirmed).
We are sponsoring the Darebin Homemade Food and Wine Festival again this year. The festival runs from the 13th May to the 18th May, with the main event being held from 1.00pm until 4.oopm on the 18th May. Registration Forms are now available at our Reservoir Store if you are planning on entering your award winning homemade Wine, Beer or Passata, or simply follow the link to download the Registration Form. Registrations close on the 9th May, 2013, so don't miss out. There are some great prizes to be won including Gift Hampers and Vouchers. During the Festival we will be facilitating some free workshops starting with ‘Introduction to Homemade Wine Making’ on Tuesday 14th May at 6.30pm at the Intercultural Centre, Community Kitchen then 'Homemade Pasta and Beer Brewing Demonstrations' on Friday 17th May at 6.00pm at the Reservoir Civic Centre and finally at the main event ‘Salami Making Demonstration' on Saturday 18th May at 2.30pm at Preston Shire Hall, Kitchen. We'll keep you posted with more details.
Our trading hours for have been extended until the end of the April, which coincides with the end of the wine season or "vintage". Our Reservoir and Clayton stores will be open from 9am until 5.00pm Monday to Friday, 9am until 3.00pm onSaturdays, and 10am until 2.00pm on Sundays.
Don't forget, if you are making wine or cider, our stores offer complimentary testing, which includes Sugar, PH or "Mouth Feel". We encourage testing at all stages of the wine making process, so please bring in samples for testing. Earlier the better! We also have Electric-Crusher Destemmers and Manual Ratchet Presses for hire. Call our Reservoir Store on 9460 2777 or Clayton Store on 9574 8222 to book.
Dates and details for our Food and Beverage Workshops will be released this month, and will include some dates for Cider Making, and the very popular Beer and Sausage Making Workshops.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates, events, promotions, Workshops and articles of interest.
Have a great weekend!
Our trading hours for have been extended until the end of the April, which coincides with the end of the wine season or "vintage". Our Reservoir and Clayton stores will be open from 9am until 5.00pm Monday to Friday, 9am until 3.00pm onSaturdays, and 10am until 2.00pm on Sundays.
Don't forget, if you are making wine or cider, our stores offer complimentary testing, which includes Sugar, PH or "Mouth Feel". We encourage testing at all stages of the wine making process, so please bring in samples for testing. Earlier the better! We also have Electric-Crusher Destemmers and Manual Ratchet Presses for hire. Call our Reservoir Store on 9460 2777 or Clayton Store on 9574 8222 to book.
Dates and details for our Food and Beverage Workshops will be released this month, and will include some dates for Cider Making, and the very popular Beer and Sausage Making Workshops.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates, events, promotions, Workshops and articles of interest.
Have a great weekend!
