5 ideas for cooking with fresh apple cider
Where we live, when the jugs of fresh apple cider appear in stores with a sticker boasting “New Crop”, it’s time to snag one for the basket.
Fresh apple cider is sometimes called ‘cold pressed’ or ‘fresh pressed’ and is an unfiltered, unsweetened pure apple juice. It is often unpasteurized, and recognizable by its cloudy brown colour.
Cider can be purchased from farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and local orchards, but cider really tastes best when you make your own. Look for a tutorial coming soon on that very topic! You can also find it in the refrigerated area of the organics section in your grocery store.
It may not look pretty, but fresh pressed apple juice has one ingredient: new apples, and it’s full of Vitamin C. My kids call it brown juice. On cold days, I serve it to them slightly warmed, with a little cinnamon sprinkled on the top. They tilt their cups far back to get every last drop.
5 Uses for Fresh Apple Cider
Cider can be used for much more than just sipping for your daily dose of vitamins; below are five ways I like to add it to my day-today cooking.
- Simmer up a batch of Apple Pie Steel Cut Oats in your slow cooker, but instead of water, use fresh apple cider. Just know that your children may never be happy with plain oatmeal again.
- Try these Slow-Cooker Sweet & Sour Turkey Meatballs, but replace the orange juice in the sauce with apple cider for an extra punch of both sweet and tart flavours.
- Cover a beef brisket with cider and add a sprig of rosemary, chopped apples and a few onions for a dinner of Apple Cider Braised Brisket. Perfect for the cool weather.
- Simmer a pot of dried beans, replacing half the water with cider. Add a pour of molasses and a spoonful of Dijon mustard and enjoy seasonal cider beans.
- Keep a pot of Hot Spiced Apple Cider on the back of the stove for cool fall afternoons, then treat the kids and yourself when they get home from school.
More recipe featuring apple cider:
- Spiced Apple and Pear Butter :: Bluebonnets and Brownies
- Apple Cider Spice Bread :: Sugarcrafter
- Lemon Cider Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic :: Palachinka
- Cinnamon Apple Pie Quick-Bread :: IVillage
- Hard Cider Braised Turkey Thighs and Apples :: In Sock Monkey Slippers
How do you like to cook or bake with apple cider?
I’ve been looking for a good turkey meatball recipe – thank you, Aimee! Yours looks amazing – apple cider would give it a flavour I had never thought of. My kids will thank you (my last turkey meatball attempt was a wee bit saw-dusty tasting – ew.)
Seems like it would be a natural in pork dishes, too!
Yes, pork and apples – a classic combo!
I love apple cider! Thanks for sharing these ideas!
We moved from Ohio to Texas about 11 months ago.
And girl….there ain’t no apple cider here. We miss it!!!!
Maybe I’ll try and make my own with that tutorial you mentioned? It could happen! My husband would be elated.
Cool recipes. Thanks for posting.
Kind Blessings,
Kate 🙂
Well, welcome to Texas, Kate! Our apple farms are few and far between. Luckily we are heading into fall and can find some decent bottled ciders at Central Market or HEB. Hope you are enjoying it here and maybe by winter you will fall in love with Rio Star Grapefruit! 🙂
Oh, I feel your pain! We moved to Oklahoma last year and it’s the same here. No cider in sight! I’m thinking of making my parents ship it in from New England 😉 But maybe I won’t have to now if I can make my own…
We started making our own cider last year and it sure is wonderful! Now that we have fresh cider in our fridge, I’ve been using it to replace the milk in our pancakes. Add a bit of cinnamon to the batter and it is amazing!
Also, Smitten Kitchen has an amazing recipe for apple cider sea salt caramels. They are divine! (And contain 0% corn syrup. You make your own syrup from cider!)
Great tips, Sarah. Love the pancake idea, as we’re always cooking up a batch. 😉
I love love love apple cider and I can’t wait to try out these ideas!
Please please post the cider tutorial soon! 🙂
I love your apple cidder suggestions! I’m always looking for more ways to use it.
so excited for fresh apple cider! I have the best place to get it at my local farmers market – and these ideas are all perf applications!
I make apple cider caramels and they are the bomb diggity. In fact I owe a friend two batches because I didn’t make them last year for her birthday. I also use cider in my smoothies, dressings and to make a sauce to accompany pork tenderloin. One of my favorite fall ingredients!
All great ideas!! Glad you are as enthusiastic about cider as I am. Do you ship your caramels? 😉
I love apple cider ~ thanks for the great ideas!
These are some quality ideas 🙂 can’t wait to try them out!
I love apple cider! Thanks for this post. In Ontario, the Wellesley apple cider is wonderful. Sometimes I worry about sugar content though. Do you think apple cider is also a enjoy-in-moderation drink like other juices?
Love these ideas, Aimee! Such a versatile ingredient – thanks for sharing! 🙂
Loving this round-up. I just marinated some pork chops in apple cider this weekend, and then grilled them! I love cooking with cider in the fall!
Those meatballs sounds incredible!
I am sooooo excited to try some of these out. Organic apple cider is back at our local Whole Foods, so this is perfect. Thanks!
Cider is my favorite time of year.