Making Apple Cider

Making Apple Cider!

It is one of our most favourite days of year! The day we get to go the farm and help make apple cider from scratch!

David is the chair of the Environmental and Sustainability program at Acadia. One of his colleagues has a farm up on the South Mountain in the Annapolis Valley. Every year, we gather at the farm with the Acadia students from the program to make apple cider the old-fashioned way!

We have been going every year for the past 4 years, and it is the highlight of our fall! The boys love it, and know exactly what to do for each step of the process!

Here’s how we do it.

We start with a trailer full of organic apples. Theses apples are bought specifically for making cider, so it doesn’t matter how pretty or perfect they look on the outside.

The apples are dumped into a canoe, where we wash them off with a hose.

      Then, the apples are sliced in two. This makes them easier to go through the grinder in the next step.

 My favourite step is the grinder. The sliced apples are then dumped into the grinder (built into an old chair) so that they are completed shredded. Be careful not to put too many in at once as it will jam, and definitely keep your fingers away!

This is a video of this step.

Once the bucket is filled, you take the shredded apples over to the press.

Fill the press with the shredded apples.

Then, blocks are placed on top like a puzzle to weigh down the apples.

The juice starts to pour out the bottom into a bucket.

An iron bar is placed in the top to help winch it and press the apples further.

Once it cannot be pressed any further, the press is opened. This is called the “apple cake stage.” Everyone tries to get the pressed apples – in one piece – to the wheelbarrow without it breaking! No one is ever successful, but it is fun to try.

Once the wheelbarrow is full, it is taken to the field and fed to the cows. The boys love this part as well.

Then, the bucket of juice is then strained once more before filling the bottles.

Once this hard work and team work is all finished, you can finally sit back and enjoy a glass of apple cider – in its purest form, knowing exactly where it came from and how it was made.

Until next year!