Today we made cider.
The village cider collective met for its second year to turn surplus apples into cider – a simple process involving a garden shredder, a large apple press and a few hours of fairly enjoyable labour.
We didn’t have as many apples as last year, but we’re going for quality rather than quantity.
We ended up with a little over 11 gallons of fresh juice. We drink some of it fresh, which leaves 10 gallons slowly fermenting under my dining room table.
I admit, it would be much easier to just buy a crate of cider from the supermarket. But that’s not the point of the collective. It’s a way of getting together with the neighbours, making use of local fruit that would otherwise rot and be wasted, and it’s very satisfying to drink something that you’ve made from scratch. If you’ve got apples, link up with your own neighbours and get brewing too!
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 
Evening Sir,
Sorry for the lateness of comment but been a tad busy over the last few days. Your quite correct in that it be far easier to purchase cider from off the shelf, but me and my friend, Chunky Monkey (don’t ask), spent most of Monday morning mashing, pressing and filling a scant two demijohns worth of apple juice, hopefully to become cider. And the enjoyment and expectation sure does beat the crap out of pulling a case (or two) off the shelf. So much so that our plans are becoming bigger (maybe not better :-)) for the production of more home made beverages, after all to drink or eat something produce by yourself or along with friends is something that is hard to beat.
Regards,
John
Very true John!
Good luck with the cider. Mine seems to be fermenting nice, so hopefully yours is too by now.
I’m thinking about blackberry wine at the moment, if I can get enough of them. I’ve never tried it before, but I’ll bet it could be quite nice…