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Spiced Apple Cider (Traditional, Sparkling, Spiked, Hot or Cold)

Thanksgiving and Christmas, or other winter holidays, and just plain cold winter weather conditions aren’t just for eggnog alone!  Spiced apple cider is another very traditional holiday and cold weather drink.   The following recipe is intended for a party — punch bowl sized — but you can scale it down easily to make a much smaller quantity.  In fact, you could even make it by the cupful if that’s what you’d prefer — although its really hard to drink just one cup!

 

Holiday Party Pleasing Traditional Spiced Apple Cider (Plus Twists)

5 to 6 whole cloves
6 cups fresh orange juice
1 gallon unsweetened apple cider
1/2 cup raisins
2 to 3 cinnamon sticks

Optional:  May include 3 to 4 star anise, 1 tsp. to 1 Tbsp. lemon juice (careful — lemon is a strong flavor and can overwhelm quickly), 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons shaved fresh ginger root or a single thin slice or 1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground dry ginger, and if desired add honey or maple syrup to taste.  Use any or all (or none) as desired.

Spiked: 1 liter bourbon or champagne.  Do not add bourbon until ready to serve cider, hot or cold.  Only add champagne to already chilled, never hot, only cold cider when ready to serve.   

Non-Spiked Sparkling:   If desired,  add 1 liter of choice of sparkling apple cider, carbonated water, or ginger ale right before serving.  Some like to add lemon-lime soda but I never cared for the lime taste myself in my cider.  May add to hot or cold cider, but it is usually served with chilled cider. 

Cheat:   Use purchased pure unsweetened orange juice (with pulp if desired)– OR mix up 1 (12 ounce) can frozen OJ concentrate (with pulp if desired) with 3 cans of water (which makes about six cups) — then add it to the fresh squeezed juice (and pulp if desired) of only 3 large oranges while saving the orange peels to use in the recipe.

Reserve the peel the from three of the fresh squeezed oranges.

Place all ingredients into a 6 quart or larger nonreactive pan stock pot and bring to a full roiling boil over high heat.

Remove from heat immediately upon reaching a full roiling boil, cover, and allow to stand at least 30 to 45 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Remove solids with a slotted spoon or wire mesh strainer.

Serve warm or cold.

Refrigerate left overs in covered container.

Yield: 1 gallon + 1 quart + 1 pint (or about 22 six ounce cup sized servings)

Although sizes vary, most punch bowls hold about 2 to 5 gallons — if filled to the rim. Depending upon the actual size of the punch bowl and number of guests, you may wish to double the recipe or more.

This recipe is good for a 2 gallon punch bowl with enough room for 1 liter of additional ingredients if desired.

WARNING:

Glass punch bowls and cups are usually not heat resistant and may shatter if attempt to add hot cider to them and should only be used if serving cider cold.

Plastic punch bowls are not recommended for serving cider due to the acidity.  

If intend to serve the cider hot then use only heat resistant serving pitchers or bowls and cups.

 

Decorating Tip: 

For chilled, spiked, or sparkling cider, if desired,  float orange slices — and no more than two or three lemon slices on top (lemon flavor is very strong and it will overwhelm the cider otherwise).   If desired, decorate the fruit slices by sticking the stems of whole cloves into them.  You can even make spirals, Christmas trees, stars, smiley faces, or other shapes on the fruit slices if desired with the whole cloves.

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Question: How many fresh oranges would I need to buy to make 6 cups of fresh squeezed juice?

Some oranges are juicier than others depending upon variety, rind thickness, size and quantity of seeds or if seedless, how good or bad the growing season was, and its age — since the longer it sits after being picked the more it dehydrates.

The tendency to pick most fruits these days before they have fully tree or vine ripened to allow for the time needed to reach the shelf and actually be sold also means a less juicier fruit.

Answer:  About 15 medium or 13 large — with a few extras on top of that just to be on the safe side — if they meet all the conditions which you wouldn’t know unless purchasing directly from a trustworthy grower who you could ask or unless growing them yourself. It could be a few less if they exceed those conditions.  In any case, it is usually better to buy a few more extras “just in case” they aren’t as juicy as expected.  On rare occasion,  a medium orange may only produce 3 to 4 Tablespoons of juice! 

There are about 3 to 4 medium oranges in a pound which makes about a cup.

A single medium sized orange has approximately 2 Tablespoons of zest, about 1/3 Cup of juice (or less), and about 1/2 Cup of whole orange slices.

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About Me

Hi, I'm Tammy!

I live in Idaho but I am a southerner and moved here for career reasons in 2000. However, I am now a retired widow and have lots of time to focus on what makes me happiest -- cooking, sharing recipes, as well as teaching and sharing with others what I know about cooking and nutrition.

I don't claim to know everything there is to know about cooking and I'm not a chef, although I do know a few and helped them out from time to time and my late husband was a trained cook and baker as well as a master at smoking meats and making BBQ, and I have studied nutrition at two colleges and one university along with other degrees. I like cooking from scratch and recipes made with prepackaged items are the exception rather than the norm.

However, being disabled, I have good days and bad days so I do use what I call "cheats" on occasion. For the most part though I've learned to pace myself and with a little preplanning I manage to do the prep one day and the cooking the next so the cheats still don't happen very often.

I have an enormous collection of recipes dating from the 1700s to the present (hence, vintage to modern). Because of my late husband's health issues I also have many diabetic and heart healthy recipes or my recipes often include substitutions along with the regular ingredients.

I do just about everything when it comes to cooking so other than predominantly scratch cooking, I don't really have a set focus on any particular cuisine. I even make a few cheeses, canning, homemade ginger ale, candies and confections, and the list goes on. If there is a recipe for something you'd like to see just leave a comment or write to me at: vintage2modernkitchen@gmail.com

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