Apple Cider 12/18

One of the saddest days of the summer was also one of the best. It was the day that Greg and John moved everything out of Kelly’s house and put it in storage. It was also the day that Don and I had Edie’s help picking apples. (My plan is to attempt to attach an adorable picture in the blog to go along with this post.) It was one of those amazing September days in Wisconsin with the warm sun and a breeze. Kelly’s neighbor was kind enough to let us take the apples from one of his trees. So Don took the step ladder and Edie and I followed through the woods to the orchard. We filled 5 gallon buckets with delicious juicy apples while eating as many as we could and carried them back to Kelly’s. We had been tasked to scavenge apples from wherever we could find them for the big “apple press” that was to take place at Brother Mark and Sister Jean’s house by Brainerd on September 19 and this was only one of our apple picking days… though it was the best. We had scouted around the Brainerd area and picked apples from Pine Tree Cemetery, Mark’s farm, the old crab apple tree by the farm that we had picked from 55 years ago with Brothers Bob, Dick and Ludwig along with Sister Elaine. Another great day. The last day we were in Brainerd, Nephew Ken and his wife Lori set up their apple press at Mark’s and started squishing out the juice. We snagged a gallon and a half. We drank up the first gallon and put the other half gallon in an old orange juice jar and put it in the fridge to age. Word is that it improves with age.

The reason this came up is that the other day when I went to get a Miller Lite from the fridge for Don, it was all sticky. On checking the source of the sticky substance I found the plastic orange juice jar was bulging on the bottom and had started seeping around the lid. Fortunately it did not burst. When I loosened the lid it foamed up and would have run all over if I didn’t close it back up. At that time it was amazingly good and sparkling. Today we invited some new friends who when not wintering in Texas live in Bloomington, MN and shared the last quart of our cider. I have to say that it is best when served at the first opening. 

We think Don solved the water problem in the fridge.