Homemade Apple Cider

Well friends, fall is upon us, at least in my neck of the woods. And these chilly mornings have me craving a warm and comforting  drink to start my day. 

Since I love apples so much, I decided that apple cider would be perfect on these cool fall mornings. But I took a look at the apple cider at our local WalMart recently, and saw that  the ingredients include pasteurized apple cider and added Vitamin C. Hmm...not thrilled about that, so I wondered.... could I make a homemade version that would be healthier than the "pasteurized Vitamin C added" version?

I found a recipe online, but it wasn't as healthy as I hoped, so I experimented, tweaked, and tweaked some more, and here's the version that I came up with:

Ingredients:

Wash and quarter:

2 green apples

2 red apples

2 yellow apples

1 orange

Spices: (**can be adjusted according to tastes**)

3 cinnamon sticks

2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 c. pure maple syrup

8 whole cloves

12 cups water

Put everything into a large soup pot.

Bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer at least 2 hours. The longer you simmer it, the more flavorful it will be.  

And a word of warning, friends:  be prepared to be completely intoxicated by the wonderful smell of the cider boiling!  ;)

This is what it looked like after 2 hours of simmering.

Strain.

And serve. 

Yummy! Healthy and delicious - perfect for a cool fall morning. 

Enjoy!

Sharing this recipe with JES.