Buying ready-made cider is easy and convenient. But once you understand the difference between homemade and commercial products, I’m sure anyone would be inclined to make their own cider. The process of making cider is not complicated, but fermentation takes about a month. If it is pasteurized after fermentation, it can be kept indefinitely.
Cider usually requires a double fermentation. The first step is to crush the apples and squeeze out the juice. Then sugar and yeast are added to the juice. This turns it into wine. It is best not to filter, distill or pasteurize the cider. Otherwise, it will destroy calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron and other vitamins, nutrients and minerals. Although unfiltered cider may look cloudy, it is best for your health. Here are the complete steps for production.
Pour the apple juice into a plastic bucket. Cover the mouth of the bucket with a piece of coarse cotton cloth and secure it along the rim. Then place the bottle in a place with an ambient temperature of 15-26 degrees Celsius. Make sure not to move it anywhere. Remove the cotton cloth and stir the apple juice daily. Allow the wine to ferment to the desired level. This process usually takes about a month. Strain the wine from the barrel three times through a coarse cotton cloth and place it in a stockpot. The filtered liquid is called the mother of the wine. If the mother wine is added to the cider, the wine will continue to ferment and eventually deteriorate.
Sterilize the wine in the stockpot by heating it to 60-70 degrees. Remove from heat as soon as the desired temperature is reached. Cool indoors and pour into glass jars or bottles. After sealing, the wine can be stored at room temperature indefinitely.
