How to make apple juice at home?
Apple juice is an integral part of a healthy diet, it is rich in vitamins, essential micronutrients and antioxidants.There are several ways to get natural juice from apples at home.
How to squeeze?
You can use the following juice squeeze methods:
- juicer;
- filtering through cheesecloth;
- grinding up a blender;
- by boiling.
To correctly spin using a juicer, you must perform the following steps.
- Choose a bottle with a neck equal in size to the tip of the juicer. This will eliminate the possible oxidation of the finished product. To juice can be stored longer, it is better to pick up a bottle of glass, rather than plastic. A metal container is not suitable due to its oxidizing properties.
- Place the container under the neck. Sliced apples folded into the cavity of the juicer and turn it on.
- The device allows you to get the juice with little or no pulp, although it largely depends on its technical characteristics and the company. On the surface of the juice may be a small amount of oil cake. In this case, you can mix it or remove it by filtering through a fine sieve or multi-layer gauze.
- After processing all the apples, you should disassemble the juicer, rinse it under water and dry it well. Keep the device better disassembled.
You can get apple juice with gauze like this.
- Peel the fruit, cut out the middle. Grind on a grater or through a meat grinder.
- Fold the gauze in several layers. If the gauze is not at hand, you can replace it with a thick fabric.
- Put the pulp in the middle of the filtering matter. After that, tie a gauze top knot.
- Start squeezing the juice through the resulting filter, constantly increasing the compression of the gauze bag.
The method of obtaining juice using a blender is as follows.
- Pieces of fruit (can be skinned together) crushed in a blender.
- Put the resulting mass on a cloth or a bag, tie it in a knot, put it under the load. As a press, you can use a colander, put on the pot. In it you need to put a bag of apple pulp. Put a plate on it, and on top of it - a three-liter bottle of water and leave until the moment when all the liquid flows.
You can make the juice by cooking as follows:
- put crushed fruit in an enameled cooking pot;
- fill them with water;
- boil;
- remove the pan from the heat, cover it with a lid;
- apples throw in a colander covered with gauze and squeeze;
- mix with the already cooled liquid in a saucepan;
- pour juice into a clean container.
A simple juice from applesauce, which can be squeezed out at home, is great even for babies. The yield of 1 kg of apples will be higher if you choose the right variety. If you are cooking it in a juice cooker, then you can then lighten the drink. How to make the clarification, you can find out below.
Cooking technology
Before you get the juice in any of the ways described above, the apples must first be prepared. To do this, they need to wash well, remove the middle. If you don’t clean up the bones before squeezing, the juice will be slightly tart. For the manufacture of juice, choose mainly sweet apples, but the use of sour-sweet fruits is allowed. The choice of variety depends on how exactly the product is planned to be prepared - with or without granulated sugar.
For a sugar-free drink, the fruits of the following varieties are perfect:
- Antey;
- Oryol Sinap;
- “Memory of Kovalenko”;
- "The power of the alai";
- Titov;
- Freedom.
The fruits of the above varieties are sweet enough, so they do not need to add sugar.
If you plan to make a drink with sugar, it is better to give preference to such varieties:
- Antonovka;
- Auxis;
- "Palm";
- "Reward";
- "Glory to the winners."
Juice from them turns out much more sour. Sugar will not only improve the taste, but also increase the shelf life of the product. If you need to get a certain amount of juice, you can approximately calculate the number of fruits.Most often, when pressing a juicer with 11-12 kilograms of fruit, about 4-5 liters of juice is produced.
It should be remembered that natural juice obtained by direct extraction (using a juicer or using a grater and a gauze filter) is recommended to be diluted with water in proportions of 2: 1 before use.
To properly sterilize the jars and lids for seaming, you must perform the following steps:
- check the integrity of the container, it should not be any defects, especially cracks;
- old covers should not be used, and new ones, as well as glass containers, should be checked for defects;
- without using chemical agents for washing cans, rinse them well with soda and mustard powder;
- at 150-160 ° С sterilize the jars in the oven, folding the container on the grid;
- cool the banks.
How to preserve for the winter?
It is important to remember that for juice, which is supposed to be preserved for long storage, you can not choose sweet varieties of apples.
There are several methods of canning:
- warming up;
- easy boiling;
- closed pasteurization.
The technology of cooking by heating consists in the following: juice should be poured into a large enameled container, then heated on a stove to 88-98 ° C. In the case when the thermometer is not at hand, you can determine the degree of heating by eye. The main symptom is small bubbles on the surface of the juice. You cannot boil the product. After he has been pasteurized, it should be poured into sterile jars or bottles and sealed. After all the manipulations, the clogged juice must be wrapped in a thick fabric (woolen shawl, scarf, blanket, etc.). Banks can be removed to the place of permanent storage only when it is about 12-14 hours apart.
The method of easy boiling is convenient when there is no full confidence in the high quality of the obtained raw materials. For example, if the apples were beaten or slightly spoiled. It is not necessary to boil the juice for a long time, but boiling within five minutes is quite acceptable. Of course, with a significant proportion of essential trace elements and vitamins will collapse, but the five-minute cooking will not affect the taste. First you need to pour the juice into a pot with thick walls, then wait until the liquid boils. After five minutes, you need to distribute it on a sterilized container, close tightly, put it upside down and wrap. The drink will be cooled for 12 hours, after which the banks will have to be put up and removed to a place where there are no natural or artificial light sources.
Pasteurization is convenient because the liquid boils already in the container. To prepare canned juice in this way, you need to put a jar of juice in a wide pot with high walls. The container should be closed, but not tightly clogged. Next, you should put it in a saucepan, pour water and put on medium heat. Then you need to wait until the water starts to boil. It is very important to control the level of the liquid - it should not rise above the “shoulders” of the can, otherwise it may crack.
The pot should be covered with a lid and heated to 85 ° C. Then you need to reduce the heat to a minimum and boil for about half an hour. At the end of the pasteurization procedure, you should carefully remove the jar of juice with a tack, immediately close and tightly cover with warm matter. After 15 hours, the juice will cool down, after which it will be possible to carry it to a dark place where it can be stored for the whole winter.
Whichever method is chosen, there are some precautions that must be taken to prevent the fermentation of the newly preserved product. After blocking the container with apple juice should be kept for 12 days at room temperature and monitor the condition of the prepared beverage. If the juice has become cloudy, the banks should be opened and drained into an enamelled container, then boiled for five minutes. This product must be consumed as soon as possible. You can make wine from this juice.Banks, the contents of which did not change during the observation, can be removed in a dark room for two months. If they are not moved, during this period the juice will become lighter and gain transparency.
After canning, you need to make notes on each container with the date of rolling. In this form, if the storage conditions were not violated, the juice can be stored for up to two years.
Popular Recipes
Homemade apple juice, cooked on its own, without artificial additives, is often much healthier and tastier than a product produced on an industrial scale. The classic methods of squeezing and canning juice were discussed above, but you can use more original recipes.
Apple Cinnamon Recipe
In cold form, this drink perfectly refreshes and quenches thirst, and in winter hot spicy juice will help to warm up after a long walk.
Ingredients:
- 20 medium apples;
- cinnamon (ground or whole);
- granulated sugar (optional).
Fruit should be washed, cut out the middle, cut into slices, then folded into a saucepan and cover with water. Boil over low heat for about 25 minutes. Strain the pulp and squeeze the maximum amount of liquid out of it. After that, you need to put in it two sticks of cinnamon or a tablespoon of ground spices. Add sugar to taste.
Apple-lemon variant
Not only tasty, but also useful, vitamin-rich drink. It is recommended to drink it with a cold.
For its preparation will require:
- 200 grams of apple juice, obtained by any method of extraction, together with the peel and pits;
- 2 lemons;
- 1 teaspoon honey.
Lemon juice can be obtained using a citrus juicer or manually by cutting the fruit in half. After that, you need to mix it with apple juice and add honey.
With pulp of apple, pumpkin and carrot
The recipe with pulp of apple, pumpkin and carrot is well suited for canning.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of apples;
- 0.5 kg of ground pumpkin;
- 1 carrot.
Pumpkin need to boil and wipe the flesh. Apple and carrot juices should be squeezed using a juicer or strain through gauze. All components need to be mixed, put on the stove in an enamel saucepan and wait until the mixture begins to boil. Juice, removing from heat and cooling, can be distributed in sterile containers and prepared for the winter or consumed fresh.
Apple juice with the addition of raspberry
The drink will strengthen the immune system during the cold season and fill the body's need for ascorbic acid.
To cook it, you will need:
- 2 l homemade juice from sour apples;
- 1 kg of raspberry;
- 0.2 liters of water.
Raspberries should be placed in a colander and dipped three times in a bucket of water, where 3 teaspoons of salt were dissolved. This is done to get rid of possible pests. After that, put it in a saucepan, crush it, pour in water and heat it, but do not cook it. Pass the mass through the gauze. Give the resulting drink to infuse for 15 minutes and combine with the juice of apples.
With mint
Mint apple juice perfectly quenches thirst in hot weather.
To prepare you need:
- 1 liter of sweet and sour homemade juice;
- 200 grams of crushed ice;
- juice of two lemons;
- 5 sprigs of mint;
- 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Mix apple and lemon juice, add ice, chopped mint and sugar. The drink can be decorated with a slice of lemon or apple.
Black currant
The drink has a rich color and a pleasant taste, suitable for canning.
To cook it, you need:
- 0.5 kg of currants;
- 1.5 liters of apple juice.
Currants need to be washed, put on the fire and bring to a boil, then squeeze the juice using a gauze filter, cool. The cooled currant juice mixed with apple. The drink can be prepared for the winter or served at the table. Sugar to taste.
With carrots
The recipe with the addition of carrots can be used as a blank for the winter.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 kg of apples;
- 1 kg of carrots;
- 0.2 kg of sugar.
Apple and carrot juice obtained using a juicer or grater, mix the liquid, add sugar.After that, pour the carrot-apple juice into an enamel pan, heat it, but do not boil it. After that, the drink must be cooled and poured into clean containers.
Apple-pear juice
To make this sweet drink you will need:
- 1 kg of apples;
- 1 kg of pears;
- 0.1 kg of sugar.
Get fresh juice through a juicer or cheesecloth. Pour into a saucepan and heat to 95 ° C, add sugar. Chill the finished product. Juice can be canned.
How to prepare apple juice for the winter, see the following video.