apple pressin' and a comforting cider recipe

We went on a little getaway with our good friends up to Puget Sound, where we attended their traditional family cider-making party. It was such a great experience, it felt fall-ish and harvest-y and like we were taking part in the deep roots of the Pacific Northwest.

Every person had a job; whether it was loading the apples, washing the apple, sorting the apples, cutting the apples, pressing the apples, or scooping up the cider and filling milk jugs through cheesecloth. It was a great social time, plus the potluck afterwards was one of the best that I had EVER been to. Especially the apple champagne, which someone had taken the apple juice from last year's pressing and added champagne culture, letting it ferment throughout the year. So crisp and bubbly!

Bottling the good stuff

Custom apple presses

1700 pounds of organic Washington apples

The end result

View from the cabin

The cabin - it was everything I hoped it would be!

The next Tuesday, a group of friends met up to go through the corn maze on Sauvie Island; one of our friend's sisters actually lives full time on the farm and allowed us to heat up cider on her stove after we had completed the course. Friend Josh found this recipe for mulled cider and it is seriously delicious!

• 6 cups apple cider
• 1/4 cup real maple syrup
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• 6 whole allspice berries
• 1 orange peel, cut into strips (We used slices)
• 1 lemon peel, cut into strips (We used slices)
• 
  
• Pour the apple cider and maple syrup into a large stainless steel saucepan.Place the cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice berries, orange peel and lemon peel in the center of a washed square of cheesecloth; fold up the sides of the cheesecloth to enclose the bundle, then tie it up with a length of kitchen string. Drop the spice bundle into the cider mixture.Place the saucepan over moderate heat for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the cider is very hot but not boiling.Remove the cider from the heat and discard the spice bundle. Ladle the cider into big cups or mugs.

From: allrecipes.com