Just to clarify we are talking about actual cider made from fresh crushed, and pressed apples and not apple juice made by cooking and juicing or steam juicing, correct? You mention both but they are really two very different things with different methods of preservation.

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/8836/sp50455preservingfruitjuicesapplecider.pdf

As a general rule while juice may be canned after boiling, true cider must be pasteurized before it can be canned. Freezing is the recommended method.

As for additions to either, after opening is preferred simply because you don't affect the pH or the processing time with additions and some of the additives can become quite strong and off-flavor over shelf storage time.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Dave, actually I was talking about apple juice with cider-like spices (faux cider I guess ) . I will be pressing apples (for the first time ever, I'm pretty excited) this coming week, so it's good to know about both. As usual, I really appreciate your knowledge and help!

Sheila

I prefer my apple cider to have no spices added it tastes awesome all by itself. I really have no idea how to can it though

JUst keep in mind that if you are pressing apples it will be cider, not juice. Not until after it is well boiled and strained several times to remove all the "apple meat" that comes from pressing apples and is clear and and then pasteurized.

If you want to can faux cider then it is best to buy already processed apple juice. I know some folks use the terms cider and juice interchangeably but they are very different things when it comes to canning and you really cannot "can" cider.

Dave

I'm finding this discussion very interesting because these words mean quite different things to me over on this side of the pond. Cider here is always alcoholic, what I believe is called 'hard cider' in the USA. It's made purely from the fermented juice extracted from pressed apples. Apple juice to me is also pressed and can be clear or cloudy. The cloudy is more expensive and far tastier. You can even get it with the apple variety named. It is sold as fresh juice and keeps about a week. Clear juice is processed to keep about a year. I have to confess that the idea of adding sugar to apple juice seems unnecessary. It must make for a very sweet drink.

in the US we call it 'sweet cider' vs 'hard cider'. apple juice is a completely different thing than sweet cider.

:)

I used to press a lot of cider on a press I made back when I was in high school (woodshop project). We had a lot of apple trees. For those making cider, please remember that a mix of apple varieties (both sweet and tart) will normally give you a better cider than using just a single variety. Avoid using too many Red Delicious as it can give you a "muddy" flavor to the cider.

I never canned it as we just strained it for any apple chunks that came thru and heated it to the point of boiling. Then we froze it.

I did read a report a few years ago (Cornell?) that letting fresh pressed cider sit for 2 hours at a warm temperature and then freezing it was just as good as running it thru a UV light system for making it "safe" to drink. Not sure if that is still accurate. The 2 hours in warm area actually was quite important according to the article. Something about "good" bacteria killing off "bad bacteria"?

Cider around here at local orchards (Wisconsin) is now horrible. All filtered so it is light colored and tastes like store bought apple juice. Hard to find unfiltered dark cider that still has all the flavor. The general public wants it filtered so now they all do it. When I find unfiltered and with the label: "Warning: This product is unpasteurized and may be unsafe for children and elderly to consume" then I stock up on it for my freezer.

For those interested in pressing their own, I used to get about 2 gallons/bushel on my home press and 2.5-3 gallons per bushel when I made it commercially at an orchard many years ago. I used to press 250 gallons a week at an orchard I once worked at. The difference is because commercially we ran the apples thru a hammermill before going into the press. The smaller it is ground to, the more juice you will get. Another trick is to use warm not cold apples! Warm apples (room temperature) will give more juice when pressed than cold apples taken right out of the cooler.