F.A. Farm

Today I juiced the last of my cider apples. I had left a couple of boxes out in the living room since October, so I could do cider whenever we wanted some fresh. They were a little wrinkly, but still good. I should mention that we keep our house at 58-62 degrees on the thermostat, so there are plenty of cold corners, even in the living room. Anyway, there were more solids and the flavor was more intense, but it was a little flat, too. I attribute this to the mix of Goldens and Jonagolds, which were what I have plenty of in the fall. We have planted some sharper cider apples, like Kingston Black, but the trees are still too young to produce much. I tried something new this time, which was to keep the solids I strained out and reduce them down in a double boiler. The mixture tastes quite "apply" even though it is not very sweet. However, I like the basic apple flavor, even without the usual sweetness or tartness you get when you pull one off a tree. This is another reason we have a medlar tree. Medlars are a medieval fruit that tastes sort of halfway between a cooked apple and a cooked pear. We make jam with them and also did a medlar custard pie for Christmas. I like pumpkin pie much better and I prefer a mild, bland medlar jam.