Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-09-23
Apples, Apple Juice, Cider, Vinegar.

Apples, Apple Juice, Cider, Vinegar.
This is most alphabetically "the bear
ing year" with apples. Not only are
weH-kept orchards in full bearing, but
every superannuated and half-decayed
tree, and every scrub and chance seed
ling by the roadside, is loaded in man
ner seldom seen in a lifetime. With this
abundance it is evident that with apples
there will be glut in the market.
There will be no room except S higher
up and those who send poor fruit to
market had better use their barrels for
hre-wood and save the freight charges
There is always certain demand to be
met, but this year only the select fruit
VIII supply it. In years of plenty, care
full selection and neat packages tell.
The almost daily inquiries as to fruit
dryers show that preparations are being
made to dry a share of this Abundance
and we hope by this article to anticipate
the inquiries that will soon be made as
to disposing of the fruit in the various
liquid forms. Apple juice, as it comes
from the press, or "sweet CIDER" is
liked by many, and we have inquiries as
to keeping it in the unfermented state.
- SSSA An6 HOVNCIS oil . bOtcIblS6u, duU
some OF these from their effectiveness in
preserving fruit will no doubt keep fruit
juice equally well. The majority will
wish to preserve their sweet cider with
out addition, and these can treat it by
the same method used in canning fruit.
Heat the cider to the boiling point, bot
tie and cork it while still hot. When
apple juice is exposed to the air, the
natural forpnorf
change to take place. The sugar in
the Juice is converted into alcohol,
and carbonic acid is given off. This
process may be carried on until all the
sugar is decomposed, when it is g hard -
cider. The fermentation may be arrest
ed at the desired point by bottling, and
sparkling cider will be the result. This,
which is also called "champagne CIDER"
can only be produced by bottling before
the fermentation is quite finished. The
best still cider is made from late-ripen-
ing apples, when the weather is cool,
fermented slowly at as low tempera-
ture as possible, taking care to exclude
the access of air; when fermentation
has quite ceased, the cider should be
racked off into clean cask, and kept
securely bunged or bottled. The great
use of apples in this year will be to make
vinegar. In the fermentation of cider,
the sugar of the apple-juice is converted
into alcohol, and in making vinegar,
that alcohol is changed into acetic acid.
The conditions of this change are full
exposure to the air and high tempera-
ture. The richer the cider in alcohol,
the stronger will be the vinegar, and the
more slowly will the change take place.
Ordinarily, the cider is put away in the
cellar or some out-building, and in time,
it may be two or three years or more,
will be found to be changed into vine
gar. Those who have heard of the
"quick vinegar process thinking it
can be applied to cider, we are often
asked to give a description of it. In
this process, a liquid containing alcohol,
usually in the form of cheap whisky, is
converted into vinegar in a few hours.
But this is not applicable to cider, for
in the fermentation of cider or other
fruit juices, the change into vinegar is
accompanied by the growth of a very low
form of plant, /" the MOTHER" as it is
usually called, and this would sociug up
the apparatus of the quick method as to
very soon put stop to it. Still, the
change of cider may be greatly has
tened. Those who make cider vinegar
on large scale have house especially
for the work, and this is heated to about
20 deg. Vinegar can not be made rap
idly at a much lower temperature. Ex-
posture to the air is important, hence the
casks are not filed, but only partly SO,
in order to expose broad surface of the
liquid to the action of the air. Exposure
is increased by frequently transferring
the cider from one cask to another let
ting it run very slowly. Exposure can
be promoted by allowing the partly
formed vinegar to slowly run down a
long trough, and also by allowing it to
trickle over corn cobs placed in cask,
the cobs having been previously washed
and soaked in good vinegar. Old vine
gar acts as a ferment, and hastens the
change, and the mixing of new and
partly formed vinegar with portion of
old and strong vinegar helps the change.
Another method to hasten vinegar max
ing is to add yeast to cider, or what
produces the same effect, the smother"
from vinegar barrels. The conditions
for the most rapid conversion of cider
into vinegar may be summed up: A
temperature of at least 70 deg, all pos
sible exposure to the air, the addition of
old vinegar to the new or the use of
s'mother.' 1t should be remembered
that the weaker the cider in sugar the
weaker will be the vinegar, and the
more rapid the change.-Amertcan Ag-
riculturist.