{"id":23617,"date":"2023-03-17T12:59:05","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T16:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23617"},"modified":"2023-03-17T12:59:39","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T16:59:39","slug":"episode-780-cicer-making-factory-red-streak-apples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23617","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 780 CICER MAKING FACTORY — RED STREAK APPLES"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 780     CIDER MAKING FCTORY<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
march 17, 2023<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Task: To replicate this cider press in a folk art miniature about 4 inches high and long<\/div>\n
in order to complement a wooden quilt apple orchard.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
APPLE CIDER MAKING  \u2014 RED STREAK APPLE VARIETY BEST<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Apple cider making was once big business. Apples were available by the tons<\/div>\n
each fall and crushing them yielded lots of apple juice which could be converted to<\/div>\n
hard cider\u2026i,e alcohol laden cider.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Some apples were better than others.  Rather tart cider apples such as the famous<\/div>\n
Herefordshire Red Streak made the best hard cider but for some reasons Red Streak<\/div>\n
apple trees did not thrive in Canada.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So our hard cider \u2014 alcohol laden — was made from pretty well any apple whether picked from the<\/div>\n
apple trees or gathered from the wormy windfalls on the ground.   I assume these apples were <\/div>\n
not selected for quality.  Nor did it matter much if they were wormy. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Currently I am working on a wooden quilt that features my folk art impression of<\/div>\n
an apple  orchard and an apple press.   Cider making on Canadian farms was not<\/div>\n
exactly done with quality control  in mind.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
And each fall tons and Tons of Canadian apples were crammed into light wooden <\/div>\n
barrels to be shipped to England . I assume that was for the \u2018scrumpy\u2019 Cider market.<\/div>\n
Scrumpy cider was low cost and low quality \u2026 kept often under the bar at local<\/div>\n
pubs.  I believe that is still the case.  Scrmpy drinkers are a special breed.  Right <\/div>\n
or wrong?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
What mystified me about that 19th century business was how these barrels of<\/div>\n
apples were kept from rotting.  Once a barrel was filled an apple a press was<\/div>\n
applied to push the top apples down so a lid could be nailed on the barrel.<\/div>\n
Apples pressed together like this go rotten fast.   Even apples sitting in an<\/div>\n
apple bowl on a table will rot fast the then touch each other. Big bown, <\/div>\n
ugly tings. Inedible. They rot fast.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
So I leave this question:   Did those barrels of Canadian apples arrive in<\/div>\n
England as rotten apples and were then made into rotten apple scrumpy cider.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Whereas Herefordshire Red Streak apples made and still make a delightful<\/div>\n
sparkling somewhat alcoholic drink.   Bulmer\u2019s Apple cider under the title<\/div>\n
\u2018Strongbow\u2019 , an English make, is prominent in our liquor stores.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
This reminds me of an embarrassing incident long ago when I was doing research on<\/div>\n
English tithe barns and came across a cider making operation in Herefordshire, England..<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cKevin, you keep the video camera going while I do this interview<\/div>\n
unannounced.  I\u2019ll do the talking.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSure.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHello there, just wondering if you use red streak apples\u2026..\u201d<\/div>\n
(The interview went badly\u2026rotten.)<\/div>\n
\u201cJust who the hell do you think you  are.  Nervy bastard.  Coming<\/div>\n
in here with your smarmy questions and camera rolling.  Get out.\u201d’<\/div>\n
(I think our son Kevin lost some of his admiration for his father that day.<\/div>\n
I wonder where the tape of the three minute interview has been stuffed.)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
This was not my finest moment.  Never got to taste his cider.  We left with our tails between our legs.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Look closely at the apple barrel\u2026.see the press?  Apples being pressed .  They must<\/div>\n
have gone rotten fast.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 780     CIDER MAKING FCTORY alan skeoch march 17, 2023 Task: To replicate this cider press in a folk art miniature about 4 inches high and long in order to complement a wooden quilt apple orchard. APPLE CIDER MAKING  \u2014 RED STREAK APPLE VARIETY BEST Apple cider making was once big business. Apples […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}