Flavors of Autumn- Making Apple Cider

About 7 years ago, my mother and I started a tradition.  She had this enormous apple tree in her front yard, that she never really utilized, and we wanted to start using the apples from it.  So we started catching the apples that fell from it to make cider, and when the tree was full of apples we would pick them and make apple pies.  My mothers pies were so good! 
I am continuing that tradition this year by doing the same.  My stepfather brought a basket of apples to me that he collected and I made my cider once again.
 
I wash them and run them through our juicer. 

Then I boil the juice and strain it through a fine cloth.




The juice turns out so wonderful, and what is strained off I make into apple butter for toast, by adding cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves  and sugar.  Yummmmm!         
It is a lot of work, but well worth the trouble.  Our entire family loves apple cider and apple butter.  It makes enough for a little over a gallon of cider and maybe 4 cups of apple butter and it goes fast.
Traditions are so wonderful, the best ones are the ones you fall into.  Ours came about because we wanted to make great use of something that was already blessing us. 
The feelings and memories this annual job gave us are priceless.  Having those memories has made our lives more fulfilling.  Creating traditions with this in mind will make the effort that goes into these jobs more worth the effort.

del.icio.us Tags: Apples,Cider,Butter,Family,Traditions,Autumn,Memories,Warm Up,Juicer,Straining