At the end of summer, it is time to harvest apples. According to Christian tradition, the collection and consumption of apple stocks falls on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 19). By this time, apples reach full maturity and manage to absorb enough of the summer sun. And this, in turn, is a guarantee of the presence of useful vitamins and minerals in them.
Why apples?
Ready-to-harvest fruits contain beneficial organic compounds and acids, vitamins of groups A, B, PP, as well as trace elements such as iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium. Also, apple juice is rich in pectin, which perfectly copes with the removal of toxins from the body. This way you can cleanse your stomach healthy.
It is difficult to overestimate the benefits of home-made apple juice. Ideally, he is advised to drink immediately after cooking - so he maintains a maximum of useful trace elements.
We stock up for the future
Has the garden awarded you a large harvest of apples? No problem! After all, you can always make apple juice for the winter. So you can not only save a piece of summer memories, but also please friends and relatives with a delicious drink in the winter cold.
In order to make apple juice according to your home recipe, it is better to choose the following varieties: Slavyanka, Antonovka, Grushovka Moscow and other autumn or winter varieties.
Apple varieties like Ranetki and Kitayka are especially sweet, but they only produce a drink with high acidity - not far from the stomach ulcer! Therefore, such juice is recommended to be mixed in half with water. You can get delicious and unusual apple juice of your own preparation, if you cook it from different varieties of apples.
Cooking apple juice at home. Recipe
This method will not bring unnecessary trouble to the cook. Using a juicer, you can make freshly squeezed juice with and without pulp. It is important here to choose mature fruits that have not been spoiled by pests. Apple juice is squeezed much better from freshly picked fruits.
In order to make a drink for the winter, we act like this.
Recipe step by step
To begin with, we select good fruits, carefully wash them, clean from the stalks and seeds. No need to get rid of the peel - it is a valuable source of a large amount of vitamins. Cut the apples into pieces and pass through a juicer. Let the juice stand for some time so that the pulp of the fruit settles. If your goal is apple juice at home, just follow these steps. And then you really get a great drink without impurities of fruit pulp.
If you are not a fan of apple juice with pulp, filter it through a clean gauze or sieve several times before and after boiling. After the second straining, put the pan on the fire and bring it to a boil again.
Double straining allows you to completely get rid of sediment.
If your juice consists of acidic apple varieties, you need to add sugar, about half a liter of apple juice accounts for about one tablespoon of sugar. To prepare a light-colored drink at home, you need to pour a small amount of citric acid into it.
Further, according to this recipe for apple juice, we continue to boil the juice, stirring it periodically and not forgetting to remove the foam.
Until the juice reaches its boiling point, lids and jars must be sterilized. As soon as the drink begins to boil, immediately remove from the stove and pour into cans, then spin each one. After the jar with natural homemade juice, turn upside down and leave for about a day under the covers.
Further, a sweet apple dessert prepared in this way can be stored in the cellar, but for no more than two years.
Carrot and apple juice for the cold season
Such a drink is preferred by those who are not enthusiastic about the pronounced taste of apple juice and are used to combine it with other fruits and vegetables. Carrot and apple juice is a great way to surprise guests on New Year's Eve, for example.
A healthy and tasty drink is in no way inferior to factory counterparts and it turns out the most that neither is a natural product of home production.
To certainly get a sweet drink that will appeal to both adults and children, add sugar (not more than a glass of 10 liters) to the future juice to even out the overall taste. But even without sweetening, you can achieve a tasty and rich product, also with a high content of vitamins.
To correctly and fairly quickly prepare this drink at home, it is enough to adhere to the instructions of a step-by-step recipe. A detailed description will provide faster preparation of a delicious drink with a delicate texture.
You can independently verify that the daily intake of such a storehouse of vitamins will have a beneficial effect on your health - you will be transformed beyond recognition: you will refresh yourself and be full of strength, at least numerous reviews of satisfied chefs testify to this.
Carrot-apple elixir will allow you to cope with the problems of the winter period. At this time, the human body undergoes the greatest stress and needs, as never before, in active saturation with useful trace elements. If you are a fan of homemade selections, this juice will definitely be to your taste, and it will also please your loved ones.
So, let's start cooking apple and carrot juice.
We will need the following ingredients (calculation for a test portion):
- 1 kilogram of apples of sweet varieties;
- 1 large carrot;
- sugar cubes - optional.
Cooking process
To start cooking carrot and apple juice at home, you first need to prepare all the ingredients. You can independently adjust the number of components included in the composition.
The recipe contains a sweet apple variety, but you can certainly get around this rule if you prefer juice with less sweetness. In this case, apple picking of sour varieties will come in handy.
First you need to rinse the apples and carrots in cold water. The next step is to use a juicer (it must be prepared in advance on the basis of saving time).
Depending on the functionality of the household appliance, we cut the ingredients into slices or pieces that can be processed. We must not forget that the stalks and other seals in apples should be removed - this will greatly facilitate the process of squeezing the juice.
After squeezing, pour the juice into a container of glass or plastic. If you use a juice tank made of metal, you can significantly degrade the taste of the finished drink.
The obtained juice for the purpose of repeated purification can be filtered through cheesecloth. For further action, you will need to pour the entire liquid mass into a deep pan.
If suddenly your drink still contains traces of apple pulp - do not worry. Its presence will only benefit your body, because it contains a huge amount of fiber and valuable elements.
Next, add sugar at your own discretion to the pan, bring the juice to a boil and boil it for five minutes. Remove the foam released on the surface of the drink using a tablespoon.
Final stage
At the end, you need to pour the apple-carrot juice into jars and tightly close the lids, then turn over and leave it under the covers for slow cooling.
The resulting elixir of health from apples and carrots is sent to wait for cold days in a dark and cool place.
Making apple juice without a juicer
As it turned out, even the lack of a juicer will not put an end to your desire to prepare a tasty and healthy drink from apple fruits. In this case, the diffuse method is used. We offer a detailed description of this technology.
Preparing to make an apple drink using this method will not take you much time.
First you need to prepare 3 three-liter jars and number them.
The laborious process begins ...
Finely chop one and a half kilograms of apples and pour them into the first jar to the very edge. Pour freshly boiled water in a container with apples to the neck level. Infuse the mixture for six to eight hours. The resulting infusion is poured into a separate container, and the fruit jar is again filled with boiling water.
We take the second can, fill it with one and a half kilograms of fruit, fill it with the infusion obtained from the first can obtained earlier and leave it to insist again for the same time.
Next, pour the infusion from the second can into the third and a half kilograms of apples, from the first can pour into the second.
From the third can, natural apple juice after another insistence for 6-8 hours is completely ready for use.
Periodically, it is necessary to try apple slices from the first can after draining the infusion. If the taste is gone, cut another half kilogram of apples and send the jar to the end of the row.
We bring the finished juice to a boil, immediately turn off the fire and pour it into cans that have undergone sterilization.
So you can get a wonderful homemade apple drink without using any gadgets.
Such a drink absorbs juices and is truly unsurpassed in taste and in the content of useful elements.
If you use a larger number of cans, you can achieve a drink with a more saturated color and aroma. Sweet lovers can add granulated sugar to the juice.
A few words in the end
So we examined the most popular ways to make apple juice at home. Some recipes require just Spartan aging, while others, on the contrary, are extremely simple to prepare. If you are not a fan of home-made drinks, it is, of course, easier to purchase it at the nearest supermarket, but there is no guarantee that you will be sold something useful. And you can use a simple recipe for apple juice from the proposed ones and know exactly what it consists of. Sometimes, to achieve something worthwhile, you need to try a lot. What way do you go?