This is a rough draft of a small booklet/’zine I hope to materialize in the coming months…..
Every day I am more convinced of the beauty that emanates from simple peasant wisdom. Everything from simple tricks of daily life, conversation, folk music and dance, to dreams are imbued with this knowledge that is passed on from generation to generation and between people like you and me.
Apples, apples….. a source of life to many, a form of enchantment to others, the hidden temptation that produced the fall, Johnny Apple Seed, Snow White, Adam and Eve and hot baked pies on Sundays in the middle of winter.
“You are the apple of my eye”
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”
What follows is an alchemical text, from one alchemist to another, about the processes we can employ to enter into contact with this gift of nature and transform it into different forms within this reality – possibly even more precious than gold! Read on my friend!
Song of the Apple
The trees are in flame with another summer gone by.
All the sweetness, all the substance of a season
Has plumped up them apples on the tree outside the kitchen door.
And so I search into the halls of peasant lore
To find what recipes of food and fancy we can share.
It takes great imagination to see an apple tree
In the quiet stillness of a seed in your hand.
And luckily less to hear in the autumn breeze
That the laden apple tree whispers:
Eat me as I am.
Dress me in honey.
Make of me a pie, a strudel, a spice bread, or a cake.
Cut me in slices, dip me in water tinged with lemon or salt,
And sew my heart with string so that I may sing
As I dry over the stove and become snack for months to come.
Mix my dried flesh into porridge or granola when
Memories of my tart crispness have long gone up in smoke.
Discover in my juices the fountain of sweet abundance….
Drink me fresh.
Leave me a couple days for your effervescent bliss
Or let me bubble for weeks to further ferment in your head!
Don’t think I’m through – leave my cidered self out
And I will turn into a sour vinegary shrew!
Cook me cut into chunks and pass me through
The old food mill tossed in grandma’s basement
And I will make you an apple sauce worth
Preserving ´till next year I abound.
Spice me with cinnamon and thicken me further
And the cows will moo for want of more apple butter!
Let the Greeks sing to Dionysus as they sip their grape wine.
I assure you, kind soul of cold climate but scalding desire,
That Johnny Apple Seed also sat upon Mount Olympus
And that in me you will find freedom from the
Earthly chains that bound mortal Sisyphus.
Left: Different alchemical transformations of the original apple (from left to right): apple juice in two different bottles, hard cider fermenting, apple sauce, vinegar, fresh apples for keeping and dried apple chips.
So much can be done with an apple tree laden with fruit. Here come details to fill out the lacey framework of the poem.
Mainly I want to describe how we made apple juice this year since I found it particularly practical, especially as we tread through this transition towards neo-peasant revolution. The traditional way of making apple juice involves two basic implements that I believe were very common on farms not too long ago but seem to be harder to find now: 1) a type of “crusher” or “grater” that turns the whole apples into a crunchy pulp and usually involves a large funnel made out of wood and a system of two metal combs (made of nails or thin rebar, one fixed and the other rotates by motor or hand-crank) 2) a typical press.
Well, the way we did it combined two modern machines that would seem to have nothing to do with making apple juice… a wood chipper and a spin-dryer for clothes. The wood chipper is a basic tool that landscapers and foresters use to turn branches into wood chips. The spin-dryer predates the modern clothes dryer in that it uses centrifugal force to get as much water out as possible before you hang up your clothes to dry, especially useful when you have to hang them inside to dry during the winter. Describing such a machine almost seems silly except that, at least from my personal experience, many useful tools like these have been overshadowed by modern versions to the point that someone of my generation living in the dominant modern globalized urban paradigm might not even be aware of their existence.
The basic process begins by turning the apples into pulp. It is important to know that unless an apple shows signs of rot, pretty much anything goes: earwig, stems, etc. We realized that it helps a lot for an apple harvest to have cut the grass (or let the sheep in!) below the tree before the apple tree is ripe for the pickin’ and that it saves time to put a tarp down below the branch you shake in order to collect the fallen apples. I was told that it is better that leaves don’t make it into your pulp as they can make the juice bitter. But it bears repeating: don’t fuss about bug, holes, or those “scabs” you see on the apple skins – they are all part of organic life and add protein to the final product! The point is for what you’re dong to be efficient enough to be a subversively viable alternative to commercial sweetened drinks, alcohols, vinegars, etc.
It is helpful to have a piece of wood to push the apples into the jaws of the machine which is big enough that you don’t run the risk of shredding it. The pulp comes spewing out the bottom where you have placed a small plastic tub or wide-mouthed bucket to collect in.
This is really where the magic is. And really the only secret is to use something that lines the inside of the spin-dryer so that only the liquid passes through the holes and out the spout at the bottom. We used a pillow-case shaped cloth of a material akin to a thick cheese cloth or a thin cotton linen. We filled the pillow-case inside the dryer up to three quarters full, twisted it closed, and then let the machine spin. Within seconds juice comes flowing out into the receptacle you have placed below the spout.
Truth be told, making the juice is only the beginning of a plethora of possibilities. Of course, it is imperative to have a cup at hand to celebrate the fruits of this labor. And then one must decide how much of the juice will be destined to be enjoyed fresh, how much of it will be pasteurized and stored in bottles for keeping, and how much you want to let develop into cider or vinegar.
Apple Juice and Its Transformations
It is good to understand the natural evolution of apple juice to be able to alchemically transform it into the forms that you would ultimately like the juice to take. Depending on the temperature where it is stored or whether you put in the refrigerator, apple juice will be apple juice for anywhere from a couple of days up to a week or two. Left to its own desires, the juice will begin to develop a sparkle which then evolves into a bubbly edge with hints of alcohol. I think this stage between effervescence and full on pressurized bubbling is what’s commonly known as “sparkling” or “soft” cider. My intuition suggests that it is probably best to either drink the cider at this stage or leave it for about a month until it is fully transformed into an alcoholic “hard” cider since I would imagine that the in between stages contain more live yeasts than our bodies would happily know what to do with (any more information about this would be helpful).
So the simplest form is, of course, to drink it fresh or funnel or siphon the juice into bottles and store it in a refrigerator for drinking during the following week or two. In order to have apple juice for the rest of the year, it is necessary to pasteurize the juice and store in sterilized bottles. I was given a whole range of suggestions on the subject ranging from very meticulous and surefire to faster and “pretty sure to work”. Of course, one can happily work on the premise that the worst thing that can happen is that the juice turns into hard cider, and in the very worst outcome into many bottles of vinegar to trade with friends and neighbors for other useful things.
In order to keep apple juice as apple juice for months to come, it is necesary to pasteurize the juice. Pasteurizing involves raising the temperature of the juice to 85 degrees Celcius (how many Ferenheit?) so that the yeasts that are abundant around apples are killed off. I was told that it is important to not let the juice boil since boiling changes the refreshing bite of apple juice into a cooked-compote taste. The most standard procedure is to transfer the juice into well-washed bottles, top the bottles (either with screw tops or bottle tops and the right equipment to secure them), and then putting the bottles into a large(and I mean LARGE!) pot filled with enough water to cover the bottles. Bring temperature up to 85 degrees and maintain for 20 minutes (double check!!) and then let bottles cool on wood or cloth (they might break from thermal shock if you put them on to a marble or tile surface). This is the most surefire way of keeping apple juice. (A note on the large pot, if you don’t have one it is well worth your while investing in one if you are interested in preserving food since it is useful for so many other canning recipes like keeping fresh tomato sauce! A cheap and interesting alternative is to use half of a 55-gallon drum suspended over a fire.)
We experimented with an alternative process which involves using the same big pot but actually filling it directly with the juice, pasteurizing it (20 minutes at 85 degrees) and then siphoning the juice into well-washed bottles. The bottles need to be very clean for this method since any leftover bacteria inside the bottles could contaminate the apple juice. I recommend washing several times in soapy hot water in a bath tub, using a bottle-cleaning brush, and rinsing the last round with hot water and a couple of cap-fulls of bleach.
After capping, it is good to label the bottles and store in a dark, cool place. The juice can be enjoyed cold, at room temperature, or for an extra-special treat in winter, heated with a touch of cinammon. Try it!
If the juice is not pasteurized, it will continue evolving into cider and then, depending on the conditions, into vinegar. A sparkly cider can be made by filling plastic pop bottles with the fresh juice and screwing on tightly the cap (watch out! there might be a lot of pressure in the bottle when you go to open it) or storing it in a fermentation vessel or carboy w- air-lock. The initial fermentation will take about a month.
In order to turn fresh juice into vinegar, pour juice into an open-mouthed container (a clean bucket is ideal) and cover by tying a cheese cloth over top. Stir once a week or when you remember. The yeasts in the wai will turn the sugars in the juice into alcohol which vinegar-making bacterias will descend upon and transform into vinegar. The open mouth and stirring encourage maximum contact between the life that is in the air everywhere and your evolving concoction. The cheese cloth is so that critters higher up on the food chain – mainly flies – can’t get into the brew.
These are the basic steps for making apple juice and its possible transformations. But don’t stop there.
Making Apple Sauce
I am going to describe the way that I made apple sauce this year which worked well. I suspect that there are home and farm-scale methods that are even more streamlined.
You will need:
- As many apples in relatively good shape as possible – a mix of varieties is ideal to get a whole mix of sweetness, tanginess, tastiness and all-around goodness in each bite.
- An apple suace mill or an “apple-peeler-corer-slicer contraption” – these are very useful tools but don’t let not having them stop you from going ahead.
- A masher (also helpful but not imperative)
- Cinammon (gives optional spice to the sauce)
- A large pot to cooke the apple sauce and either the same or even larger pot to sterilize the filled fars.
- Clean jars and lids
- A ladle or large measuring-cup-type pitcher
Method: I put some good music on and started running the apples through the little counter-top hand-cranked mechanism I have to peel, slice, and core apples at one go. Once I had filled the big pot aobut half-full, I poured some water in, enough to assure that the apples wouldn´t burn at first, and put the pot over two burners on the stove – stirring periodically. I continued throwing “meats” in until the pot was three-quarters full and let the whole mix cook, stirring and mashing periodically, until it looked like the apple sauce I had wanted it to be. One might leave it cooking longer (always stirring occasionally to avoid burnt disaster!) for a more concentrated , thicker sauce or less time for a more liquidy texture depending on one´s tase and what they will be using the apple sauce for. This is the time to throw in cinammon to taste if it is your soul’s desire.
I’m not exactly sure what it is or how to use an apple sauce mill but its name suggests to me that it would be a handy tool. The mill and the above-mentioned magical peeler-slicer-corer apparatus (for the uninitiated, you’ve got to see it working to believe it) are affordably accessible at rural-type hardware stores (or dare I say it! – on the internet – but really, it’s so much more fun to onder the aisles of the hardware store and imagine what all those tools and materials could be turned into!).
Have the clean, dry jars and lids ready before-hand. Using a ladel or open-mouthed pitcher, fill each jar, leaving enough room to assure a little airspace between sauce and lid. Screw the lid on while jars are still hot. This airspace is important so that as the jars cool, the cooling air reduces in volume and sucks the lid´s seal on to the jar – assuring air-tightness. There’s so much poetry here I think it would take Mr. Wizard to properly decipher it all.
Since the jars are hot, you want to make sure that you have a kitchen towel or two on hand. AND – very importantly – it is necessary that the jars are filled on a surface that doesn’t conduct heat away too fast (like glass, metal or tile but especially marble) becuase it might lead to the jars cracking from temperature extremes in the glass. Another one for Mr. Wizard to explain. This goes for any sort of canning or jam-making where hot contents are being poured into jars. Covering any surface with cloth or using a wood surface will do the trick.
The last step is sterilizing the jars so that they´ll last until the next time apples are ripe on the tree. Bring enough water in a large pot to boil to cover a full layer of jars (you can check this by actually checking with the jars while the water is still cold). Place a kitchen towel, pice of cardboard or something of the kind that will pad the rattling jars as the water boils. Place the jars and keep track of when 20 minutes has passed from the water starts to boil again with the jars in it. Remove jars using a ladle and kitchen cloth or some other creative manner to not burn your fingers.
Some ideas for serving apple sauce:
- by itself as a snack or dessert, with extra powdered cinammon on top
- in place of yoghurt, with granola
- as a substitute for eggs and as a natural humidifying sweetener in baked goods
- as a substitute for sugary jams on top of home-baked bread or hot capatis
Drying Apples
Ya just gotta do it! Find the warmest, dryest place in your house – usually above a heating implement. If you don’t already have drying racks – make yourself some. The easiest way is with four pieces of wood, an empty onion sack, a dozen thumb tacks, a couple of nails, and four hooks…….
You’ll be able to dry vegetables, muchrooms, fruits, herbs, etc. on this drying rack. Opinions vary from home to home on the best method. Some slice thin so that they dry quickly and crisply, preserving color and assuring that they dry well before any curious funguses in the air come upon them. Others cut thicker, searching fo rthat perfect soft chewiness.
Some put the slices to dry as they are. Others dip them in water witha small amount of lemon juice or citric acid powder in order that they maintain their light color and not oxidize. Others still swear that dipping them in a light saltwater solution does the same and even accentuates the sweetness. The moral of the story is experiment.
Once completely dry, store in either paper bags or large glass containers in a dark, dry place.
Some possible uses:
- as a snack as they are
- in granola or trail mixes
- reconstituted in porridges or cakes
A Japanese couple who live nearby use dried aplle slices as starters for sour doughs or bread sponges, because apparently yeasts are parituclarly present on the surfaces of dried apples.
Chapters and Sections still Missing:
- Apples in poetry (Neruda, Shakespeare) and mythology (Adam and Eve, Snow White)
- Storing apples for the winter
- Recipes: Towards a no-sugar apple spice cake recipe, A basic apple pie recipe, Apple Crisp, Apple-Garbanzo Curry, Millalen’s Apple Bread Recipe
Signing off,
