What You Need:
– Staff of two (1 bike coach and 1 food handler)
Instructions:
1. Core the apples and cut them into wedges. Fill the blender pitcher with wedges.
2. Add up to an inch of water at the bottom of the pitcher. The water is necessary to help the wedges move, and reduce in size at the beginning.
3. Blend, blend, blend! You’re done when all the ingredients are circulating in a vortex, but don’t worry you can’t over-blend it.
Coach, please note: It’s likely that the blade of the blender pitcher will jam at the beginning. You may have to grab the wheel and move it back and forth to help the blade reposition and be ready to power through the apples. You may also want to whack the the side of the pitcher to shake apples down into the forming vortex. Adding more water can make this whacking step unnecessary. If you do the whacking step, do it with two hands where one hand stabilizes the pitcher while the other gives it a whack. That way the pitcher won’t go flying!
4. Dump the whole contents into the cheesecloth and then squeeze! Clean hands or gloves are essential for this step and this is why the coach can’t be the chef/food prep person.
If you stop here you have pedal powered apple juice, continue on to make apple cider.
5. Add a stick or 3 of cinnamon and some cloves (to taste), and heat until warm and steaming. Take notes on how long it takes to heat the juice in your electric kettle or stove top and then don’t overheat (and risk scalding your guests). For the nearly quart of juice that’s likely to result from one pitcher full of apple wedges, you probably only have to heat it for 3 minutes or so.