The Miracle of Liquid Apples

Nothing conjures up images of a woodsy environment better than a mug of steaming hot cider. Hold one in your hand. Close your eyes. You can just hear leaves cracking underfoot and feel a crisp, swirling wind buffeting your hair as you turn up the collar of your coat.

  Apple cider is made from apples that have been stored or seated for a week to 10 days. Then they are washed and ground to a pulp to release that tasty, aromatic liquid we know as cider.

  Its brownish color comes from oxidation when the liquid is exposed to air. In the refrigerator, cider lasts up to about two weeks. Then bubbles begin to from, signaling the formation of alcohol. This product is called “hard” cider and has a tangy taste.

  Apple cider as a beverage has a history as old as America itself and can be traced back to the first orchards in Massachusetts and Virginia.

  John Adams, our second president, drank a tankard of apple cider every morning for breakfast until he died at age 91.

  In colonial times, cider was the breakfast drink on the menus of inns and taverns. Through the Roaring Twenties, apple cider was produced and consumed in greater quantities than any other fruit juice in the United States.

  Apple juice, on the other hand, is processed and pasteurized unfermented cider. Its is usually filtered or “Clarified.” Bottle and canned juice has a shelf life of a year or more. It is sold in both concentrated and diluted forms and is available with or without sweeteners, and with or without ascorbic acid to increase the Vitamin C content.

  Apple cider as well as juice are favorites of youngsters and adults alike because of the crisp, refreshing, distinct flavor.

  Let’s hear it for the future of apple cider- the all-American beverage. As a cooking ingredient, cider is most versatile.

                                                        Using Apple Cider

  Try these suggestions to add tang and zest to your next meal:

    -For a taste trest, fill glasses half full with cider. Fill the rest of the way with club soda or sparkling water and ice. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint or a sliver of lemon or lime.

    -This drink packs the punch at a dinner party or any get together. Fill wine glasses with cider. Add a splash of apple brandy. Then toast the event, the birthday, the promotion, whatever strikes your fancy!

   -Make ice cubes out of apple juice mixed with cider instead of water for a refreshing beverage. TIP: Add a glass of apple juice for a double dose of apple flavor.

   -Substitute cider for water when steaming vegetables for an apple-luscious side dish.

   -Freeze apple cider in a ring mold and float in fruit punch.

   -Use cider to baste turkey, chicken or lamb chops- the heat seals the flavor into the meat.

    -Add two cups of cider to stew to enhance flavor.

    -Sauté fish in cider for a decidedly different “nouvelle” flavor.

                                                      Healthful Folklore Hints

  -Take one teaspoon in a glass of water, preferably with a bit of honey. It helps take the edge off your appetite and gives you an overall good feeling.

  -Instead of reaching for that pastry and coffee, try an apple cider vinegar beverage. You give yourself a mid-morning treat of energy via complex carbohydrates and fiber that lasts much longer than sugar and caffeine.

  -Improve your pets health with this remedy: One tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with one half of tomato juice. It helps maintain your pet’s acid alkaline balance and protects against illness.

  -Wherever you see dandruff on your scalp, apply apple cider vinegar. Do this daily until the scales are gone. It usually takes about 10 days.

  -Another dandruff remedy: use a nettle (herb) solution by steeping one-quarter cup dried nettles in one cup boiling water. Cool and add one quarter cup cider vinegar and massage this into your scalp twice a day. Rub with your fingertips until your scalp is almost dry.

  -Sunburn? Cider vinegar, right out of the bottle, often helps ease the pain when splashed on the burn every 20 minutes or so.

  -In his now-classic volume, folk medicine, the famous Vermont practioner, Deforest Clinton Jarvis, M.D., wrote that drinking a mixture of two tablespoons honey in a glass of water helped ease many oh his hay fever patients through the ragweed season the pancreas to produce more pancreatic enzymes, which in turn facilitates digestion and vitamin absorption.

  -For a pick-up mix three-quarters of a cup of apple cider vinegar with one-quarter cup of honey. Sip a little at a time. You’ll feel yourself becoming revived and rejuvenated. Keep a supply available throughout the day.

  -If you have athlete’s foot or any foot odor problem, bathe your feet three to four times a week in warm water laced with a half cup of cider vinegar. The acidity inhibits fungus and odor causing bacteria. If the odor persists after two weeks, ask your doctor about prescription ointments.

  -Cider vinegar stands alone quite well on a salad and helps tame your appetite. Use it without oil for minimal calories with maximum flavor. You appetite is tamed, so you can think about things other than food.

  Garlic and apple cider vinegar – miracle elixirs of the future…available today for a youthful and healthy lifestyle. You can eat and drink your way to super-youth!