Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
Apple Ale
This has been our first Summer at our Quinta in Central Portugal and while most things in the veggie patch have been hit and miss due to our lack of seasonal knowledge and late plantings, our three apple trees have done exceptionally well with no help from us what so ever.
Ok so they’re not the largest of apples (I suppose if we’d watered them it might have made a difference) and most of them look to have have been stung (although I haven’t found any grubs in them) but they have proved excellent for my home made apple ale.
I used to make this years ago when my kids were young and I was pleased to find that I still had the recipe. It’s a very refreshing drink for a warm summers day but, after downing a couple of pints in rapid succession one particularly hot afternoon, I realised that if it’s left long enough, it is actually quite potent.
Now I know why it was so popular with the youngsters all those years ago!
It doesn’t seem to matter what variety of apples are used, cookers or eaters both work well, and thanks to some friends heavily laden pear trees, I now have quite a few bottles of pear ale as well.
APPLE ALE
Makes around 8 ½ Pints (4 ltr)
INGREDIENTS:
7 pt 10 fl.oz (4 ½ ltr) cold water
2 lb (900g) apples
1 ½ lb (680g) Sugar
1 tsp (5ml) dried ginger
½ tsp (2½ml) cloves
pinch Cinnamon powder
METHOD:
Wash and core the apples. Grate the fruit coarsely.
Put the pulp, cores and water in a large pan. Cover and leave for a week, stirring daily.
Strain and add the sugar, cinnamon, ginger and cloves to the water. Stir well to dissolve the sugar. Leave overnight then strain again.
Pour into bottles, cork lightly and leave for 1 week before drinking
