In the United States, apple juice and apple cider are almost exactly the same thing. Apple cider should not be confused with the products known as hard cider (which is a fermented product known to the rest of the world as "cider") or sparkling cider (a carbonated beverage made from apple juice). In fact, apple cider is a subcategory of apple juice. Apple cider is (supposed to be) the juice from apples produced by mechanical pressure. According to Wikipedia, apple cider is traditionally made from early-harvest apples and istherefore tangier than apple juice. In my experience and research, I haven't found any proof that this is true as a rule (although some brands will advertise that their cider is made from certain seasonal apples and prepared in a particular manner, I feel that these seem to be differentiating claims instead of applying to apple cider in general). Often, apple cider is associated with unfiltered apple juice, but you can find both unfiltered and filtered cider and juice labeled accordingly in the supermarket. In short, in the United States, there's really not much difference between apple juice and apple cider (speaking as a whole - some brands may differentiate their apple mixes to produce different flavors for their juices and ciders).
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To spice up one quart of apple juice, use one stick of cinnamon, about twenty whole black peppercorns, 3 whole cloves, and 2 tablespoons brown sugar. (The sugar quantity can be reduced down to one tablespoon, but I like it sweet.) In addition to these four ingredients, prepare some zest from a citrus fruit. In this example, I used the zest from half a Meyer lemon, but lemons, limes, and oranges all work perfectly. Use the zest from half a lemon, lime, or lemon-sized orange for each quart of apple juice. If you're using medium lemons, use about a third of the zest. Large oranges - use a quarter of the zest per quart of juice.
Select a pot or pan large enough to hold all the apple juice. Toast the cinnamon, cloves, and peppercorns to bring out their distinct flavors and aromas. Do this by simply heating your pan over medium heat with the spices in the pan. Toss the spices in the pan occasionally to prevent burning. The spices should become very fragrant within a minute or two.
Pour the apple juice into the pan and bring to a boil over high heat. When the apple juice gets warm, stir in the brown sugar so it fully dissolves.Once the apple juice is boiling, reduce the heat so it just simmers (small bubbles form and rise to the top in a steady rhythm, but not at a furious rate). Add the citrus zest at this time. We don't add the zest earlier because we don't want the brief hard boil to break up the zest to the point where we will have difficulty straining it. If you're careful, you can add the zest with the brown sugar and watch the temperature to bring the juice up to simmering but not to boiling.
Maintain the simmer for thirty minutes. I do this with the lid off because it's easier for me to keep it at a constant simmer this way.
Pour the mulled juice/cider through a fine mesh strainer and into the container of your choice. If your cider has a great deal of particulate matter, you may want to place a cheesecloth or coffee filter in your strainer (or sandwiched between two strainers) to filter out the fine particles. Serve hot.You can let the cider cool and then refrigerate for up to week. Bring it back up to a simmer before serving.
Mulled Cider (makes 4 cups)
| 1 quart apple cider or juice | heat | dissolve | simmer 30 min. | strain | |
| 1 cinnamon stick | toast | ||||
| 20 whole black peppercorns | |||||
| 3 whole cloves | |||||
| 1 to 2 Tbs. brown sugar | |||||
| zest from 1/2 lemon | |||||
If anyone knows a good recipie for this type of mulled cider, or if this recipie works, I would be interested to know.
I suppose, depending on where you live, its probably not available. but here in Michigan, it's a Fall staple.
Please reconsider, or even better, visit our area in the fall and try some fresh cider for yourself. I'm sure you'll agree, its very different.
;)
Still, this is a great, simple recipe. I still have some mulling spices that I got as a gift (from Crate & Barrel, Williams Sonoma, or somesuch), but once I run out I'll try this recipe.
Recently I picked up a can of spiced coffee at a specialty shop. It smells great, but didn't come out so well in the pot. I think, though, that I will try adding this simple mixture of spices to the basket of ground coffee. I think just the clove and cinnamon will do the trick.
I followed the recipe exactly as written, and my whole family loved it.
And quite frankly, I was amazed how much the cider was transformed.
I will definately brew this up more often.
Thanks for the treat!
Note: This is a good thing however, because the simmering process (without a lid) is also a reductionism, which helps concentrate the apple juice flavor. The recipe results should be modified, however, to reflect the fact that you get closer to 20 ounces of the final brew, and not 48.
(I know... these are details.... but i am a SCIENTIST dammit!)
Carry on. ;)
p.s. I also made the mistake of offering a small sample of this brew, from a hot thermos, to a co-worker, and i forgot to tell him it was boiling hot! He proceeded to gulp it down, and burned the taste buds off his tongue! He now talks with a lisp, and complains he can't taste food.
Such is life.... when living on the edge. :)
In my last batch, I used Tree Top apple juice and had to cut out a lot of the sugar because the juice started off really sweet to begin with. When using Tree Top, consider making the mulled cider without any added sugar.
I didn't realize a cider/beer yeast mix was called "scrumpy". We learned by accident that a beer/cider mix is quite good. We also make hard cider from our unpasteurized product.
Good recipe, one I'll try.
The "buy" at the very end should be "by".
Patrick
1 Orange
1 Stick Cinnamon
20 (or so) Whole Cloves[/list:u:3632116991]Right or wrong, about hour or two before I want to serve it, I take the orange, give it a good wash, stick it with cloves all over (so it looks like The Death Star), and then jab it with the cinnamon stick. I pour the entire contents of the bottle of juice into a large pasta pot and drop in The Death Star. I bring the whole mess up to a light boil and then bring it down to the lowest flame I can get out of my stove. It sits that way covered the whole night. Not only does everybody love it, but it gets better and better as the night goes on. At the end of the evening, if there is any left, I toss the orange and refrigerate the left-overs to heat another day.
Enjoy. It hasn't killed anyone yet, so I assume it's fairly safe.
"Keep on target."
I made this mulled "liquid"-since we cannot seem to agree on cider or juice christmas eve. I used Martinellis juice, and 3 T sugar. After simmering the 30 mins I unintentionally let it sit on the counter with the spices in it for ~16 hours. I reheated it and was amazed at the flavor. It was a bit sweet because of the Martinellis, but what an amazing flavor. I used the lemon zest, and it brought a nice edge to the drink. I made it again using Tree Top juiice and drank it right away, and boy does it make a difference. It wasnt very good at all. My opinion to anyone is to try to use the real juice not the stuff from concentrate. Makes a huge difference. Just make sure to cut the sugar back and try before serving to check sweetness, and let it sit overnight to allow the flavors to blend.
For the health-conscious who perform this step, it may be best to use a pan not coated with Teflon or other non-stick coatings. Examples include stainless steel and cast iron. Some concerns have arisen about toxic gases released from Teflon at temperatures required to preheat a pan. Skeptics who like their Teflon pans might consider toasting these ingredients for slightly longer times at lower temperatures.
Cheese on pie?
Are you frigging insane?! Gross...!
Having cheese flavoured with cider or apple is great, but sticking cheese in your cider is just weird.
Being British, I'm going to give this recipe a go with 'proper' (alcoholic) cider. It's also nice to hear that Snakebite (a vicious lager/cider mixture) has been discovered in the States. There's hope for you guys yet!
P.s. If you put a little blackcurrant cordial in too, you make the even more deadly 'Snakebite and Black'!
Heck, you can get apple cider in Walmart! I refuse to accept that there is no difference when you can find real apple cider in Walmart. Have you looked in the produce cooler? That's where alot of places keep it. Who knows why they don't just put it with the other juice, but whatever.
Apple Juice != Apple Cider. Clear cider can't exist. You've strained everything out...it's just apple juice then! It's the sediment that makes it cider.
Enjoy your mulled apple juice, but call it what it is please!
PS - The verification letters incremented by one are INCREDIBLY annoying. I'm all about fighting spam, but COME ON!
Because I have diabetes, I make a cup of sugar-free commercially marketed spiced cider and add about a quarter cup of my highly spiced concentrate to bring it up to speed, then add a bit of extra lemon or lime juice and sweetener to taste.
Rob McCormick, MD
spices. :)
I don't mind not filtering out the spices, but when it's ground, it attaches to the back of your throat when you drink and is NOT pleasant!. I highly recommend whole spices. I don't put sugar in mine, but sometimes a dallop of honey is great too.
I will put allspice in it if I have some.
In Munich, and I assume the rest of Germany, one can order a marvelous drink called Radler, which is a mixture of beer and- in some biergartens, lemonade is used, and in others, Sprite. In my opinion, lemonade is better. The best is found at the Augustiner Monastery/Brewery, where the use a sparkling apple juice. If one uses dark beer, the drink is Russen. Prost