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The Flavors of Fall

October 15th, 2010

One of the things Mr Chiots and I love about where we live is that we have a wonderful little local cider mill. They sell unpasteurized cider that they press in a little mill behind their home. They have the best cider in the area (and we’ve tried them all). They put up a few signs on the road and you buy it with the honor system, one of the beautiful things about life in rural Ohio!

The best part of this cider is that it’s unpasteurized so it gets “zingy” as I say. It starts to ferment from the natural yeast after about a week. I prefer it when it’s slightly fermented because it’s less sweet. I don’t particularly like it cold, but I love it mulled. During cider season we enjoy mulled cider almost every evening while we read or watch TV.

We don’t just drink this cider, we buy extra for many other things. I usually make a few batches of mulled cider jelly for gifts. We also boil a gallon or two down into cider syrup, which is fantastic on french toast, pancakes or drizzled over ice cream. I also buy 5-10 gallons for making apple cider vinegar which I use for canning and cooking throughout the year. This cider makes great cider vinegar all by itself since it’s unpasteurized. I’ll post specifics on this when I make by 2010 batch in the next month or two.

Are you a cider lover? Do you have a special place to buy it? Have you ever had unpasteurized cider?

24 Comments to “The Flavors of Fall”
  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mark mile, Susy Morris. Susy Morris said: The Flavors of Fall http://goo.gl/fb/1zQ7K #seasons #cider #localfood #seasonalliving […]

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  2. Kaytee on October 15, 2010 at 8:12 am

    Love love LOVE cider. I’ve been buying a half gallon every week at the market. And the one weekend when my boyfriend came with me, he pointed out that I was buying the most expensive cider. I had to then point out that it was unpasteurized and that the label clearly stated “Nothing but us apples in here”. It’s so good. If the orchard that makes it wasn’t an hour from me, I’d probably be there every other day! I never thought to make cider syrup. I might have to give that a try.

    Reply to Kaytee's comment

    • Susy on October 15, 2010 at 9:37 am

      It’s great, all you have to do is boil down cider until it’s syrup consistence. I usually get about a quart from a gallon and a half or so of syrup. We enjoy it all winter long!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  3. kristin @ going country on October 15, 2010 at 8:48 am

    HA! My post today is all about cider, in a funny coincidence. I’m somewhat interested in attempting to actually make hard cider from our sweet cider, except when it’s made badly it just tastes like skunked cider. I’m afraid to waste it, so I probably won’t bother until I can find someone who really knows how to make it and can tutor me.

    Reply to kristin @ going country's comment

    • Susy on October 15, 2010 at 9:36 am

      I made a few batches of hard cider last year. 2 gallons were made with champagne yeast and two with just the wild yeast in the cider. The ones made with champagne yeast do taste like champagne, which isn’t bad – but I wanted more cider flavor! The ones with wild yeast are good, but they need a little something to balance them, not sure what as I’m not really a big drinker. I’ll probably make cider vinegar from them.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  4. warren on October 15, 2010 at 9:52 am

    We press our own cider and it is magnificent! Unpasteurized is awesome! We always did it when I was a kid too…great memories!

    Reply to warren's comment

  5. Shannon on October 15, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    Oh yum. I have been looking everywhere her (ann arbor area) for unpasteurized cider. I am dying to try some hard cider. How much is it for a gallon?

    Reply to Shannon's comment

    • Susy on October 15, 2010 at 12:56 pm

      We pay $5 per gallon, I’ve heard that there’s a guy about 2 hours from us that makes unbelievable hard cider, keep wanting to go down and buy some but I always forget

      Reply to Susy's comment

  6. Pat Taylor on October 15, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    Found you by way of Renee’s Seeds – congratulations on your well deserved 1st place win! I have been a fan of Renee’s for a number of years also.
    Your blog is a delight and we can relate to a number of your recent posts – i.e. the Garmin vs. a good old fashioned road atlas! We just returned from 7 weeks on the road up to Alaska and back and there were a few times in Canada when the GPS wanted to lead us astray…
    Thank you for offering some good gardening tips and experiences…will be adding you to my Favorites list!
    Enjoy the beautiful Fall weather…

    Reply to Pat Taylor's comment

    • Susy on October 15, 2010 at 2:08 pm

      Oh, Mr Chiots and I are planning on going to Alaska some day as well.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  7. Helen on October 15, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    Where I live in the UK, on the borders of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, is a huge cider growing area and there are lots of orchards and cider producers but most of them are quite small. There is also a pear equivalent which is quite potent

    Reply to Helen's comment

  8. Jackie on October 15, 2010 at 4:14 pm

    There’s a stand at the Farmer’s Market that sells organic cider. It’s good, but very expensive – $7 a quart. I just made canned apple pie filling last night from our apples. Looking forward to hearing about how you make the apple cider vinegar.

    Reply to Jackie's comment

  9. Helen Tristram on October 15, 2010 at 4:38 pm

    To Helen in Herefordshire/Worcestershire.
    In England cider is alcoholic but generally in the US it is non alcoholic ie what we Brits call apple juice.
    Fond memories of Herefordshire Cider bought from the producer when we used to live in that area. Here we drink Breton cidre (alcoholic) which I have to admit can be very good.

    Reply to Helen Tristram's comment

  10. KimP on October 15, 2010 at 5:23 pm

    Some friends of ours glean from an orchard and have a big apple squeeze every year. We all get to take some home when it’s done. I always stick one or two in the freezer to make them last just a bit longer. It’s wonderful stuff!

    Reply to KimP's comment

  11. Miranda on October 15, 2010 at 6:46 pm

    Me in appleless Austin = Jealous.

    Reply to Miranda's comment

  12. Johnson on October 15, 2010 at 7:06 pm

    I live in michigan and we made over 3 gallons of unpasterized cider and it took about a half an hour. I think it is much better.

    Reply to Johnson's comment

  13. Marcia on October 15, 2010 at 7:41 pm

    I love cider! I love any apple product really. I was in Normandy this summer and visited a cider mill. It was great to taste the different styles of cider, ranging from sweet to super dry (delicious with seafood). I had gallons during my trip but I couldn’t bring any back as it does not do well with air travel. I brought back some Calvados though. Yummy stuff!

    Reply to Marcia's comment

  14. mich on October 16, 2010 at 5:49 am

    Love autumn and our annual cider making session; we make about 15 gallons and it is just fab….although rather potent!
    Every year it is slightly different depending on what variety of apples we use and the sugar levels…
    Joy…

    Reply to mich's comment

  15. Hazel on October 17, 2010 at 3:15 am

    Helen T-
    I’m British too, and always forget the difference between US and UK cider. I started reading the post as if it was alcohol, and then realised Susy was talking about apple juice….

    My husband and 3 friends have a (hard) cider syndicate. They shred (scrat) the apples, squash them and then ferment the juice in barrels and demijohns (the assortment gets more motley as they go!) using the wild yeasts from the (unwashed) apples.
    It takes a few weekends (not counting the collecting- they come back with car-trailerfuls of unwanted apples) and is huge fun. The children help (as do I and and one of the other wives when necessary!), everyone eats as many apples as they want, the children drink gallons of fresh pressed juice and throw bruised apples to the geese.
    I’ve got bottles of juice(sweet cider) in the freezer, ACV from last year’s leftovers on the shelf and I’ll definitely try the syrup with the next batch of juice, thanks.
    The knack with the hard cider seems to be having a good mix of (non-cider) apples. Cider apples need ‘proper’ fermenting with added yeasts, but ordinary apples don’t. Batches using a single variety can be a bit thin, or too sweet or dry, but blended batches have a much better flavour.

    Reply to Hazel's comment

  16. Jennifer Fisk on October 17, 2010 at 9:01 pm

    I won’t buy anything but unpastureized cider.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  17. Lelo on October 18, 2010 at 10:50 pm

    I never thought much about cider until I had unpasteurized, and then it was like my whole mouth lit up with deliciousness. Wow! It is so delicious, and when it starts to get a little bubbly after a few days…wow! As you can tell, I like it. :)

    Reply to Lelo's comment

    • Susy on October 18, 2010 at 11:19 pm

      I agree, I really love it when it starts to get “zingy”!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  18. amy manning on October 20, 2010 at 12:15 pm

    Never had unpasteurized cider. Kinda scared of it, but now I will try it.

    Reply to amy manning's comment

  19. Andrea on January 21, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    So glad I read this post. I will try their cider next year when I am in the area. I froze some this year and am going to go make some mulled cider now!

    Reply to Andrea's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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