Description
Cider is a quite delicious drink which has been known for thousands of years and which has enjoyed a fashionable makeover in recent years.
This practical book by Michael Pooley and John Lomax, both cidermakers of national repute for more than 20 years, explores both modern and traditional approaches, and has been designed to enable the enthusiast using any type of apples to make real cider with skill and confidence.
The book covers the history of cidermaking, techniques for preserving apple juice for drinking, washing and crushing the apples, pressing the pulp, fermentation, blending and storing, cider-based recipes, the making of perry from pears and also includes instructions and a set of superb scaled plans for building an inexpensive cider press using hardwood or good quality softwood.
Contents: A Word on Apples; Cidermaking History; Building the Press; An Autumn Day’s Cidermaking; Right Mix of Apples; Washing and Preparing the Apples;
Milling and Crushing the Apples; Pressing the Apple Pulp; Fermentation; Blending, Storing and Serving the Cider; Troubleshooting; A Pipkin of Drinks; A Dish of Recipes; Preserving Pure Apple Juice; Making Cider Vinegar; Making Perry; Malo-Lactic Fermentation; Using the Hydrometer; Pasteurisation and Stabilisation of Cider; A Note on Patulin; Cleaning and Sterilising Wooden Casks and Barrels; Useful Addresses.
Cidermakers Michael Pooley and John Lomax (both from Ironbridge, Shropshire) were two of those people whose passion for their work was totally infectious. They were cidermakers for over twenty years and during that time their well-attended apple day teaching courses and demonstrations of the craft at venues throughout the UK acquired a national reputation. They worked hard to change the perception of cider as a foul, overly strong brew, and to impart their knowledge to the masses on how to produce good quality cider and apple juice. They always made the point at their workshops that knowing something and not doing anything with that knowledge is the same as not having that knowledge in the first place, and urged their students to take their newly acquired cider-intelligence home with them and work with it.
In 1999 they compiled this standard book about “real” cidermaking, which is thorough, practical and inspiring. It is based on their combined experience and expertise and will satisfy the needs of both the amateur and would-be professional cidermaker.
Originally published in 1999 by Nexus Special Interests Ltd
Special Interest Model Books edition published in 2002
Specification:
210 x 148mm; 144 pages;
20 black and white photographs
45 plans and line drawings
Paperback
