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Apple Wine or Cider

4 servings

Ingredients

• Apples, various varieties, well-ripened (as needed)

Instructions

1. It is best to choose well-ripened apples of various varieties, both tart and sweet.
2. Grate them, strain the juice through a cloth, and pour it into earthenware pots, placing some apples roasted with their skins in the oven to encourage fermentation.
3. After a few days, a skin will appear on the juice – a sign that fermentation is complete.
4. Remove the skin, bottle the must, and store it tightly corked in a cool place.
5. For larger household quantities, mash the apples, press the pulp well with a press, and pour the juice into a small barrel that previously contained good white wine.
6. Place the barrel on a stand in a cool chamber, where fermentation will soon begin.
7. During the approximately 14-day fermentation, daily remove any expelled impurities with a clean linen cloth.
8. After fermentation is complete, top up the barrel completely with apple must fermented in bottles and seal the bung hole tightly.
9. After the wine has rested undisturbed in the cellar for 5-6 months, rack it to another barrel, store it for a few more months, and then bottle it.

Modernized from a treasured 19th-century German cookbook.