slightly hardened and a little fizzy

It's that time of year again. The time when we cart our apples to the press. Yup. It's the family cider squeeze. Where we build bonfires, play tag on top of 6ft tall hay bales, and get very, very appley sticky.
It’s a lot of hard work, but I must admit even as a disaffected -goth- adolescent (when I should have been saying, “You KNOW we can just BUY it”) I enjoyed the old fashioned grinding, pressing, straining and then funneling into glass jugs. Not to mention it was also about that time I realized what the older men were doing around the campfire was not just watching out for rogue embers* but passing around last years cider, which oddly tasted different.

Heres how:
The natural way: Put it in the fridge and fagetaboutit. It'll start to harden within about 2 weeks.
Impatient? Adding a few raisins, or some cider or wine yeast (NOT regular bread rising yeast) will get fermentation going faster. Watch it carefully and siphon it into another clean vessel, leaving the yeast and debris behind. To keep the cider clear this may take repeated tries.

*One year the wind caught up some embers and the roof of the shed was well on it’s way to competing with the bonfire before anyone realized it.

Unfortunately it is a 3 hour drive and our 13yr old puppy is going to have to go with us. She'll be stiff and annoyed but we have to go. Aside from the call of cider there is a rumor that this is also my bridal shower. Cool, so I do get a bridal shower. Maybe the Great Aunts got together and made me a quilt and that is well worth the trip.