When I first started filling a pantry I stocked up on Tang. No offense to our astronauts but Tang isn’t really food. It certainly isn’t orange juice. Now water should be our drink of choice but I do like something tasty to drink; sometimes hot and sometimes cold. I also like the occasional drink with a kick. This week seems to have turned into the week of drinks. I have a lot put up, a lot more in process and still more planned for later this week.
I started with cider. I usually just freeze it. It’s by far the easiest way and the results are terrific. The down side is that cider fills up a freezer pretty fast. I decided to try canning my cider this year and I’m quite happy with the process and the results. I started by bringing quart jars and lids to a boil while I heated the cider to 160 degrees. I held the cider at that heat for 15 seconds to pasteurize it. The cider is then poured into the hot jars and sealed. I broke one jar open to taste it and found it a whole lot better than apple juice.
I put up some of the cider as hard cider. I’ve tried this before with mixed results. This year I decided to follow the directions. What a concept. I filled a one gallon container with cider then added a dissolved Campden tablet to kill of any wild yeast. The next day I added a packet of wine yeast and a 1/2 cup of sugar and put on an air lock. It’s bubbling like crazy today.
I found myself with about a quart of gorgeous beet juice after pickling my beets. Rather than tossing it, I treated it with a Campden tablet, some sugar and yeast and now have beet wine fermenting alongside the cherry and elderberry/grape wine I already had working.
Now for making water a bit more festive. I have a bunch of great herbs for making teas and flavored water. Lemon Balm, lemon verbena and all the mints make terrific flavored ice water. Chamomile and clover, sage and ginger root make better hot tea.
My last experiment has been with fermented soda culture. We aren’t usually soda drinkers but I do have a fondness for Maine Blueberry Soda and I wanted to recreate it. I found a recipe that calls for an easy culture. This is a long-term project, just so you know.
Fill a quart Mason jar 3/4 full of water (without chlorine). Add a tablespoon of grated ginger and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Cover it with cheesecloth and let it sit for 24 hours. Every day for the next week, add another teaspoon of grated ginger and another teaspoon sugar and give it a good stir. It will ferment and be ready to use in a week. If you don’t use it all right away you will need to refrigerate it now. To make soda add 6 cups blueberries to 1/2 gallon water and 1 1/2 cups sugar. You can use other fruit if you like. Bring it to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes. Now pour all of this into a gallon jar and add water almost to the top with cool water and top off with 1 cup of your strained culture. Cover this with cheesecloth and let it sit for 3-7 days, stirring it once or twice a day. Bottle it when it’s as fuzzy as you like it. I use bail top bottles when I have them. Now chill it and enjoy. Don’t leave the unopened bottles at room temperature because they could explode.
October 11, 2011 at 10:29 pm
When I hunt up some bottles, I’m going to have to try that! I like to make fruit syrups to dilute in water for summer and am going to experiment with spicing them for hot drinks.
October 12, 2011 at 6:23 am
I was thinking about this while trying to come up with beverages to have on hand while I was creating menus for use in a long term emergency situation. Many folks like a glass of juice in the morning with breakfast, some from habit and some trying to get in another serving of fruits for the vitamins. Canning is a wonderful thing, but to give a family of 4 just one 8 oz glass of juice a day would require canning 365 quarts a year! I’m sorry to say, I resorted to stashing some cans of Tang! LOL
I do have herbs on hand, which I prefer, and do can some juices, but I may try some fruit syrups to add to water as well if I can find recipes that make them worthwhile.
We had wonderful luck canning apple juice last year, although to me it was more of a cider. I’m looking forward to making it again.
October 12, 2011 at 7:23 am
Kathy, are you not processing the cider after pasturizing it? I have searched all my info and can’t find any safe measures for canning cider – usda recommends freezing only.
October 12, 2011 at 9:11 am
I got my info from Storey Bulletin A-47. This goes back to the same safety question. My short answer is that as a high acid product, I think I’m good and the worst thing that would happen is that I’ll have a bit more apple cider vinegar than I need. I would totally understand someone else being unwilling to risk that much cider but I don’t see how it would make me sick. What are your thoughts?
October 12, 2011 at 9:18 am
Kathy, I’d like to hear how you are storing your Mint for cold beverages. I love using Mint everyday in my water or ice-T and hate to think of not having it this winter. I know many fleeze it in icecube trays but my three freezers are full
October 12, 2011 at 9:41 am
My question on cider is – is it economic? I heard that 1/2 bushel of apples are needed to make 1 gallon of cider. That’s a lot of apples for an amount of cider that my family would probably go through in one day. So I stick with water, and we get special drinks very rarely. 1/2 bushel of apples would provide a pretty decent amount of food (in oatmeal, raw as a snack, baked in pies, cooked over pork tenderloins, etc.) whereas the cider just gets drunk down and won’t make us full at all.
October 12, 2011 at 10:37 am
The cider makes sense because I have access to so many apples and because the pommace goes to feed the pigs and chickens or the compost heap so there’s no waste. I store my mint dried, then tuck it in cheesecloth when I want it to flavor water.
October 13, 2011 at 11:37 am
I think that it should be processed in a BWB for at least 10 minutes. Just sealing it and hoping for the best seems a bit dicey.
October 27, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Here’s a recipe for Tang aka Russian Tea –
Tang and instant iced tea porportions to taste. Add in nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and maybe a little sugar. Serve hot. *Wonderful* on a cold day!