Sunday 18 November 2012

Cider

   Cider is an alcoholic drink made exclusively from apples - sometimes a little pear may be added too. The alcohol content varies from 2% ABV to 8.5%. Apple cider is very popular in the United Kingdom, the UK consumes the most cider and has the biggest cider manufacturing companies in the world. In 2006 it was recorded that the UK produces about 600 million litres of cider per year. The Irish are quite fond of cider too and in some areas of Spain and France. In the United States of America they can also call cider 'apple wine'.





 















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Two very popular ciders in Ireland are:
          
  • Magners/Bulmers
  • John Kepplers

Magners/Bulmers:
   This cider is produced in Co.Tipperary, Ireland and used to be called Bulmers but still is in Ireland. Bulmers did so well in Ireland it expanded to the UK Bulmers and now worldwide. Magners and Bulmers are made in the same way from 17 different types of apples, that were fermented and stored for up to two years.
   There are many different flavours of Bulmers:
  • Bulmers Pear
  • Bulmers Berry
  • Magners Light
  • Magners Golden Draught

   John Keppler:

   This cider company is based in Co.Cork, Ireland. It is a rich premium Irish cider. Kepplers has gone international but is not a huge success internationally yet as it is a new cider but, it looks like it will become a huge success soon.
   It does not a different flavours like Bulmers but they could in the coming years.




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Monday 12 November 2012

Uses of Apples

   There are many uses to apples some include:

  • For baking purposes (e.g. apple pie)
  • Apple juice
  • Eaten as a snack
  • Sweets (lollipops, toffee apple etc)
   APPLES IN BAKING:

   Apples are used in a lot of sweet dishes, to add flavour or a sourness. One of the most common uses for apple in baking would be to use them in an apple pie.

Old Fashioned Apple Pie Recipe

Ingredients:
2 9-inch pie crusts (one for the top crust, one for the bottom crust)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of salt
2 tablespoons butter
6 cups thinly sliced and cored apple

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Mix sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, and salt. Stir in the apples.
3. Place into pie crust, dot with butter. Cover with top crust, and slit evenly to let steam escape. Seal the top crust to the bottom by pinching the edges together.
3. Cover edge of the crust with a three inch strip of aluminum foil.
4. Bake 40-50 minutes, until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through top

Recipe From:

Easy Apple Pie Recipe
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More apple dishes:
  • Apple Cobbler
  • Apple Sauce
  • Apple Tart
  • Apple Strudel
  • Apple Crumble
  • Christmas Apple, Cinnamon Loaf

APPLE JUICE:

   Apple juice is made by first macerating the apple (softening the apple with a liquid and absorbing the flavour from the fruit). Maceration helps the fruit to release its juices and make them easier to digest. Its quite expensive to produce apple juice in large quantities so its mostly produced commercially.
  • Making apple juice:


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    Apples can also be eaten as a snack, with the sugars in them they can give a burst of energy. Apples are a quick and tasty snack, a perfect food for a packed lunch. An apple can last longer if it is stored in a fridge. Apple juice is one of the most common fruit juices throughout the world. The taste/juice from apples is used in a lot of sweets. Many fruits are used as flavours for sweets e.g. strawberry, lemon, orange etc.

Saturday 20 October 2012

Types of Apples

   In the world their are many many types of apple. Some popular ones are:
  • Granny Smiths
  • Pink Lady
  • Honey Crisp
  • Golden Delicious
  • Rubens
  • Malus


   There are more than 7,500 different types of apples grown in the world.
2,500 of them are grown in the USA. They can come in a variety of colours e.g. red, green, yellow and golden.

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   Dark red apples usually have a thick outer layer (skin), but golden apples usually have a thin skin and taste much sweeter than the dark red.
 
Pink Lady:
 
   These apples are hand picked individually to decrease the amount of damage done to it if it was machined or fell to the ground. Pink ladies are a pink/red colour, to identify a pink lady apple it will have a sticker stuck on the side of it like this:
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 Granny Smith:
 
   These apples are a lime green and came from Australia. It has a thin layer of skin and has a more sour taste than a pink lady apple.  
 

Monday 15 October 2012

Info on Apples

   The apples tree was one of the first plants to be produced by humans. Apples are from deciduous trees, and came to  North America in the 17th Century by colonists. In the story of Adam and Eve the fruit that was forbidden was the apple. In 2010 around 69 million tonnes of apples were produced half of that being from China.

    Apple Production

   Years ago apples grew by themsleves by the seeds leaving the apples and germinating to form a new apple tree. Nowadays humans create apple farms and harvest them manually or by machine. Apples are produced in huge numbers nowadays, 69 million tonnes were produced worldwide in 2010. There are so many types of apples and many different types are produced all over the world. China produces the most apples in the world with over 50%. In America 60% of all apples grown and sold commercially are grown in Washington State.
Statistics: For Apple Production in 2010
  1. China - 33 265 186 Tonnes
  2. USA - 4 212 330 Tonnes
  3. Turkey - 2 600 000
  4. Italy - 2 204 970
From this we see that China is definitely the main producer, with USA far behind and then Turkey and Italy.





Friday 5 October 2012

Introduction to Apple Inc

Hi my name is Rachel and my blog will be on apples. I am going to focus on the journey of an apple from a farm to your house. I will be looking at different types of apples too.                                                                Image from: