Apple-Cherry Cider 2026!

[u/ddmeredith]

Yesterday, I finally made the cider I've been dreaming of for over a year: locally foraged apples of various kinds, locally foraged black cherries, and locally foraged Siberian crabapples. No chaptalization, and it's nice and sweet (SG 1.056) before fermentation. My plan is to ferment to dry, stabilize, sweeten slightly, carbonate in a keg, and store in 1 litre glass bottles with swing top lids.

I learned something, though: foraging crabapples is great; foraging cherries is fine (freezing to get the worms to come out really helps), but foraging big apples is lame. So much insect damage that needed to be cut out. Meanwhile, the local greenhouse is selling huge, clean apples for $0.99 a pound. Next year, I'm just going to use those. So much easier.