Apple Cider Worksheet Download

Have you ever sipped warm apple cider on a cool fall day? Fresh cider looks cloudy and brown, but apple juice looks clear. Many families sip it warm with cinnamon and a doughnut.

So how does a hard, crunchy apple turn into a drink? First, workers wash the apples and grind them into mash, or mushy bits. Then a press squeezes the mash, and sweet juice flows out!

This work happens at a cider mill, a place where cider is made. Most cider is heated for a short time, called pasteurizing, to make it safe. So each sip holds the juice of many apples, picked in the fall!

Wow, it can take dozens of apples to make just one jug of cider! Cider is golden-brown and a little cloudy, and it smells like autumn. Many families sip it in fall, when apples are ripe in orchards.

Once apples are picked, they go to a cider mill, a place where cider is made. First the apples are washed, and then a machine grinds them into mash, which is soft, chunky apple like applesauce. Next the mash is pressed, or squeezed hard, and the juice runs out!

That fresh juice is cloudy because tiny bits of apple float in it. In the United States, this cloudy drink is called apple cider. Apple juice is filtered, which means the bits are strained out, so it looks clear.

Cloudy or clear, juice should be safe, so most cider is pasteurized, or heated for a short time. At a cider mill, you might find warm cider with cinnamon and a cider doughnut. So the next time you sip cider, remember that dozens of apples were squeezed to fill the jug!

Imagine you are walking into a cider mill on a crisp October morning. The air smells like cinnamon and warm apples. Apple cider is juice squeezed from fresh apples, and in the United States it is cloudy. Apple juice is filtered to look clear, but cider is not.

Cloudy cider begins with a bumpy trip through the mill. First, workers wash the apples, and then a machine grinds them into a mash, which is a thick, chunky pile of crushed apple. Next, a press squeezes the mash like a giant hand, and the juice runs out. Wow, a whole bushel of apples, about 40 pounds, makes only about 2 to 3 gallons!

All that precious juice needs protecting, so most cider makers warm it briefly before it reaches stores. This is called pasteurizing, and it kills germs that could make people sick. Apples that fall on the ground can pick up germs, so heating works like a safety shield. It is named after Louis Pasteur, a French scientist who lived in the 1800s.

Thanks to Pasteur's idea, cider is safe to sip, and the cozy part can begin. Many families warm it in a pot with cinnamon sticks. Many cider mills also fry doughnuts and roll them in cinnamon sugar. Next time you sip, remember that it takes a whole bushel of apples to fill only a few jugs.

Picture a crisp October morning at a cider mill, where a wagon rumbles in piled high with red and yellow apples. The air smells like cinnamon and warm doughnuts, and an amber stream pours into a jug. That drink is apple cider, which in the United States means fresh apple juice that has not been filtered. It looks cloudy and tastes like a bite of a just-picked apple.

That just-picked flavor starts in an orchard, where apples ripen and are harvested each fall. At the mill, workers wash the apples and grind them into a chunky mash that looks a bit like applesauce. Then the mash is pressed, or squeezed hard, until the juice runs out. It takes a lot of fruit: a bushel, about 40 pounds of apples, makes only a few gallons.

Pressing is only half the story, because the next step decides whether the juice becomes cider or apple juice. For apple juice, makers filter out the tiny bits of apple, which leaves it clear and smooth. Cider skips that step, so the bits keep floating inside, like specks in a snow globe. That is why cider looks cloudy and apple juice looks clear.

Those floating bits are harmless, but fresh juice can hide something you cannot see: germs. Apples that fall to the ground can pick up germs from soil, so most cider is pasteurized, which means heated briefly to make it safe. The word honors Louis Pasteur, a French scientist who studied germs in the 1800s. Because the heating is quick, cider still tastes like fresh apples.

That fresh taste is the star at fall cider mills, where many families gather. Many mills sell cider doughnuts, which have cider in the batter and often a coat of cinnamon sugar. Many also serve warm cider simmered with cinnamon sticks and cloves. Next time you sip a cup, remember that a whole bushel of apples makes only a few gallons.

Two jugs sit side by side at a fall farm stand, and together they make a puzzle. Both were made from apples picked in the same orchard, yet one glows cloudy and golden-brown while the other shines clear as a yellow window. Why do they look so different, and why do they have different names? Follow the apples from tree to cup, and you will crack the case.

Your first clue waits in the orchard, where pickers fill crates with ripe apples every autumn. At the cider mill, the apples get a cold-water bath, and because apples are about one-quarter air, they bob around like little red boats. Next, a grinder chops them into a thick, chunky mash, skins and all. Then a press squeezes that mash like a giant fist, and sweet juice pours out, somewhere between two and three gallons from every bushel of apples.

That fresh juice, still full of tiny apple bits, is exactly where the mystery splits in two. In the United States, apple cider means fresh, unfiltered juice, so the tiny specks stay floating inside and make it cloudy. Apple juice, on the other hand, is filtered to strain those specks out, which leaves it clear and smooth. That means the cloudy jug is cider and the clear jug is juice, even though both began as the very same fruit.

Cloudy or clear, though, most of what you buy has made one more stop before reaching the jug: a quick trip through heat. Apples that tumble onto the ground can pick up germs, so most cider is heated briefly to make it safe to drink. This step is called pasteurization, named for Louis Pasteur, a French scientist who studied tiny germs in the 1800s. Because the heating lasts only a short time, cider still tastes like fresh apples.

Once cider is safe to sip and tastes this fresh, it is ready for the coziest part of its story: a visit to the cider mill. Many mills in the United States sell cider doughnuts, rings of fried dough made with cider and often rolled in cinnamon sugar. At home, many families simmer cider with cinnamon sticks, which are curled tree bark, and cloves, which are dried flower buds, until the kitchen smells like autumn. So when you hold a cloudy cup, remember the answer to the mystery: that cloud is made of tiny pieces of the apple itself.

Everyone knows that apple cider is just apple juice wearing a fancier name, right? Not quite, and the clue is right there in the cup. Fresh cider glows a cloudy amber, like a lantern behind foggy glass. It smells like an orchard in October and tastes tangy, sweet, and a little bit wild. In the United States, cider is fresh, unfiltered apple juice, so tiny bits of fruit stay floating in it, while the clear juice on a grocery shelf has been filtered to remove them.

Those tiny bits of fruit come from apples, and the best cider rarely comes from just one kind. Cider makers blend varieties the way a baker mixes ingredients: some apples add sweetness, some add a sharp, mouth-puckering tartness, and some add a flowery smell. Thousands of apple varieties grow around the world, so the possible recipes are almost endless. Did you know that apples can float? Roughly a quarter of an apple is air, so they bob in the wash water like fat red buoys while leaves and dirt rinse away.

After that bath, the apples meet the grinder, which chops them into a chunky, sweet-smelling mash that looks a lot like applesauce. Next comes the press, the muscle of the whole operation. The mash is wrapped in cloths or bags, stacked in layers, and squeezed so hard that juice streams into a tub below. A bushel of apples, which weighs roughly 40 pounds, makes only about 2 to 3 gallons of cider. What stays behind is a dry, crumbly cake called pomace, which farmers often feed to animals or add to compost.

The pomace is left behind, but the golden juice still has one test to pass, because raw juice can carry germs you cannot see, smell, or taste. Apples that drop to the ground can pick up harmful germs, and a press cannot tell which apple is which. That is why most cider is pasteurized, which means it is heated briefly so harmful germs are destroyed. The process is named for Louis Pasteur, a French scientist who studied germs in the 1800s. Because the heating is short, the cider stays cloudy and still tastes like fresh apples.

Once it is safe in the jug, cider is ready for its real job: warming up a chilly day. At cider mills across the country, visitors watch the press at work and often leave with a bag of cider doughnuts, which have cider mixed into the batter. At home, many families simmer cider with cinnamon sticks and cloves until the whole kitchen smells like autumn. I think that is why cider still matters: every batch tastes like the particular apples, orchard, and year that made it, and every cup keeps small farms and mills busy. So the next time someone calls it plain apple juice, remember that one bushel of apples gives only a few gallons of cloudy gold.