MADE EASY

Instead of spending big bucks for fresh, healthy apple juice, learn how easy it is to make your own.

As a do-it-yourself kind of guy who loves the taste of fresh, hand-picked apples, I was dying to figure out: how do I make homemade apple juice? I had a hunch that fresh apple juice would taste far superior to the stuff in the grocery store.

Turns out I was right – not only is the taste far superior, making it’s not as hard as sounds! A lot of recipes out there tell you how to make several gallons of apple juice at a time or how to can and freeze your juice for a few years. Instead of going this route, let’s start small and see if you like the process and end result before we dive in any further.

Start by picking up a 5-6 lb bag of apples. You’ll need about 18 apples to make 2 quarts (about 8 cups) of juice. Scale up or down as you wish. The apples you pick will greatly affect the taste of your juice. I’d recommend starting with a naturally sweet apple like Fuji, Gala or Red Delicious. Better yet, mix a few varieties of apples to get a more complex flavo

DIRECTIONS

Start by washing and then coring the apple to remove seeds. Cut the apples into slices. There is no need to peel the apples.

Add the apples to the pot and add enough water to just cover them. Too much water and you’ll have pretty diluted juice. This juice may come out a bit strong, but it’s a lot easier to dilute the juice with extra water rather than trying to make the flavor stronger.

Slowly boil the apples for about 20-25 minutes or until the apples are quite soft. Place a filter in your sieve and place the sieve over your jar.

Slowly ladle the hot juice/apple mixture into the sieve and gently mash the apples. The juice will be filtered through the bottom into your jar while the apple mush will be left behind. Place the mush in a separate bowl for later. Repeat this process until all of your juice is in the jar.

Taste the juice after it’s cooled for a bit. You can add additional sugar or cinnamon depending on your preferences. Again, if the flavor is too strong, you can add water a little bit at a time to weaken the flavor.

The apple mush you collected can easily be turned into apple sauce by placing in a blender and adding a smidgen of sugar and cinnamon.

Keep in mind your homemade apple juice doesn’t have any preservatives so be sure to keep it refrigerated and to use it within a week!