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Vinegar, Pickles, and Pickling: Cider

Cider Vinegar. - The best quality of vinegar is undoubtedly that made from cider, providing the apples used are sound, ripe, sweet fruit. As the best grades of cider vinegar bring a fancy price, it is advisable to separate ripe, sweet windfalls from small, unripe, or defective fruit, and use the best fruit for an A 1 grade of cider.

The usual careless method of making cider is merely to fill a cask to its capacity with cider and let it stand four to six months to sour. But, with proper care and attention, a better grade of cider can be made in a much quicker time. The better way is to place the cider in a hogshead or large tank. Lay the ripening casks, with the bungholes open, on their sides, exposed to the heat of the sun or in a warm cellar, and fill them at first only about a quarter full of cider. After about two weeks, add another quarter, making the barrel half full, and after two weeks more do the same, leaving the cask about three quarters full. Thus a considerable flat surface inside is left exposed to the air. Once a day for the first few weeks draw from the spigot a gallon or more of cider and pour it from a considerable height through a funnel into the bunghole. This keeps the cider full of air. Also, put into each barrel a pound or more of bread dough, prepared as for making ordinary wheat bread, in the state in which it is ready to be put into the oven.