Choose your apples – Which apples you choose will depend in the taste that you want. For a sweeter taste to your apple cider try Red Delicious, Jonagold and Fuji apples. Combining tarter apples like Granny Smith and McIntosh along with Golden Delicious will deepen your flavors. Choose apples that are ripe without blemish, soft spots or any other damage.
Use them right away – If you have an apple tree, pick the apples when you are ready to make the cider. Also, visit your local farmerís market for fresh picked specimens of the varieties you like.
Prepare your apples – Wash them well. This removes any pesticides from the skin. Use a corer tool to remove the center of the apple and making slicing easier. Cut the apple into slices.
Blend them – Place the apple slices, with skin, into the blender. Chop up until the pieces are small but bigger than the openings in the cheesecloth. If you grind it up too fine then you will end up with sediment in the bottom of your cider.
Strain your apples – After you have blended all of your apples, place a piece of cheesecloth across a large bowl. Strain your apple mixture. If you have one, use a cider press. You may need to squeeze a bit more to get all of the juice out of the pieces. Pour into jugs.
Pasteurize your cider – You can drink your cider as is. To slow the fermentation process you can put your bottled cider in the refrigerator. Even better is pasteurizing it. Boil the cider to about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Cool and refrigerate.