This is the cider from the video. It takes most of a day on the stove. Drink it as is, or use it in the apple pie float.
Ingredients
- 15 apples, washed, peeled, & cored
- 1 orange
- 4 star anise
- 4 cloves
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 5½ liters of water, plus 8 cups for soaking the apples
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ cup brown sugar, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- A pinch of salt
Method
Wash, peel, & core the apples. Drop them into the lemon juice & 8 cups of water so they don’t brown while you finish the rest.
Wash the orange & zest it. Stay off the white pith or the cider turns bitter. Then peel the orange.
Put the apples, orange, zest, cinnamon sticks, star anise, & cloves in the pot. Add 3 liters of water.
Bring it to a boil, then drop it to medium (about 6 on my stove). Cook about 4 hours with the lid on so it doesn’t boil away. Check the liquid. I added another liter in that first stretch whenever it dropped a few inches.
Around 4½ hours, mash the apples. Cook another 2 to 3 hours. Add about 1½ liters of water during this part.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Press with a spatula so you get the liquid out. Pour the cider back into the pot. The pulp can be discarded, or used for fruit roll-ups.
Heat to a simmer. Add ¼ cup brown sugar, more if you want it sweeter, then the vanilla and a pinch of salt. Cook another 1 to 2 hours so it reduces about an inch and a half.
Drink it, or pour it into the apple pie float.
