on cider

Here are the CDs one listens to while chopping 100 kilos of apples: Led Zepplin. Bob Dylan (blonde on blonde), Burning Spear, The White Stripes (elephant), Neil Young (harvest moon). Jethro Tull is scratched, but Nina Simone (the best of) is in tip top shape and nothing says only forty kilos to go like The Kinks.

And if you find yourself with 100 kilos of chopped apples and no motorized apple grinder, just substitute a hand-powered meat grinder instead. After a mere six hours of turning the handle, you'll have a healthy (sterilized) barrel full of apple mush, ready for the presser.

Cider-making is a three person job. One person to chop the apples, one person to feed the apples into the meat grinder, and one person to turn the handle. Alternatively: one person to chop the apples, feed them into the meat grinder, and turn the handle; one person to pace the room and try to remember the English word for "ridiculous fool"; and one person to accuse the other person of standing around "like a bloody pudding."

And should the atmosphere in the cider-making room grow too much for you, well, Gus says to tell you that those sticks aren't going to throw themselves.