Homemade Apple Cider

Hot apple cider is a familiar taste of fall through the holiday season. Although you may doctor up the store-bought variety with cinnamon sticks and other spices when you heat it on the stove, making homemade apple cider exactly how you’d like it is easier than you’d think.
Hot apple cider is a familiar taste of fall through the holiday season. Although you may doctor up the store-bought variety with cinnamon sticks and other spices when you heat it on the stove, making homemade apple cider exactly how you’d like it is easier than you’d think.

The most basic cider recipe includes apples, sugar and water. All the ingredients are added to a pot together, and boiled for hours until the apples more or less disintegrate. You can take many paths from this basic recipe to include cinnamon sticks, cloves or allspice during the cooking down process.

Serve immediately or store your fresh apple cider in a plastic container in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. You can also freeze your fresh cider for later use. Try freezing individual portions in a muffin tin for an easy way to make one drink at a time.

Homemade apple cider is delicious on its own, hot or cold, with a spike of rum or without. If you want to kick it up a notch, check out these apple cider drink recipes for inspiration.