Apples were an important part of life 200 years ago. It was one of the few sources of sweetness — a hard-to-come-by pleasure. Honeybees came with the English, and keeping them was an art. Transporting them was difficult. Apples, on the other hand, could be raised easily, and orchards increased the value of the land. Apples could be stored in cellars, dried and used all winter for pies, put up as butter and turned into hard cider.

On the Northeastern Seaboard, where grapes didn't do well, cider took the place of wine. Hard cider was a natural result of the fermentation of sweet juice stored in an unrefrigerated atmosphere. Never was cider prohibited in scripture, so it was acceptable as solace in a dark and wild place like the American frontier. Homesteads produced thousands of gallons of cider a year for use as the standard, ubiquitous household drink, and the whole household, from children to adults, drank the mildly alcoholic beverage. Freezing cider and draining off the alcohol made higher-alcohol liquor, known as applejack.

Johnny Appleseed, née John Chapman in 1774 in Massachusetts, introduced apples to Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. An outstanding arborist and advocate for apples, he started the first apple orchards in the new territories, floating down the Ohio River with a canoe full of apple seeds picked from pomace discarded by cider mills. It was a law in the Northwest Territories, of which Ohio was a part, that a settler must set out 50 apple or pear trees in order to make his claim good.

Apples do not "come true" to the parent tree from seed. In order to propagate a cloned offspring, scions (small branches or buds) must be cut from the parent tree and rooted or grafted onto rootstock. The seeds that Johnny Appleseed planted produced a tremendous diversity of type, including many called "spitters" — unfit for eating. His nurseries were fenced, protected from livestock, and produced trees ready to transplant. Runty, sour apples were valued for blending in cider as much as sweet beautiful ones, because they added to the flavor when pressed and drunk. During colonial and frontier times, cider was much safer to drink than water, and the demand for beautiful, symmetrical apples with little flavor hadn't come into fashion yet.

Johnny Appleseed knew that as the frontier expanded, cider apple trees would be a valuable commodity, and land planted with orchards would be more desirable. Cider mills began to spring up through the territory, and Johnny's nurseries made him a wealthy man. He lived single his entire life, wearing cast-off clothes, doing good, preaching the gospel and disdaining the comforts of home and the good life. When he died, his legacy of apples lived on, and his land holdings were worth well over $1 million.

The temperance movement eventually leveled its sights on cider, going so far as to encourage the destruction of whole orchards to put an end to drunkenness. Apple growers responded with the (by now well-known) public-relations motto, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," and apples became a health food. Unfortunately for the diversity of the apple, Golden Delicious and Red Delicious, although unrelated, have become the parent stock of a whole range of super-sweet fruit. Our modern desire for symmetry, glossy skin, beautiful color and large size has meant that many delicious and usefully antique apples have faded in popularity or become extinct.

For a fascinating list of heritage apples used for cooking, eating and cidering, visit www.treesofantiquity.com and click on "heirloom trees." For a list of old apple varietals that have been found around the U.S., visit www.applesearch.org.


In the glorious years when we have an apple crop, fall is cidering time at our Pojoaque Valley orchard.

We gather the windfall apples for weeks, making early, tart apples into pies and applesauce. But for the cider, we wait. Ideally, we don't start cidering until after the first frost, but this year, the weather was so crazy, the windfall apples so thick on the ground, and the trees so heavy that we started pressing cider earlier than usual.

Six mature apple trees doesn't sound like too many trees, really, and in the barren years, it's too few. But every third of fourth year, we have a bumper crop. A single tree could supply legions with cider. The fruit from the six of them is a true embarrassment of riches, and try as we may, many apples are wasted.

When we decided on a date to start making cider, we e-mailed friends and family and asked them to show up anytime on Sunday to make cider. We asked them to bring some food to share if they wanted to, to wear old clothes and shoes and to bring containers in which to carry home the bounty.

We trucked out our friend Paul's ancient wooden cider press in our equally ancient truck; the two gnarly machines looked like they had escaped from a period movie set. Paul's press was made in Connecticut in the 1920s, and back in his commune days they made hundreds of barrels of "yellow jack cider" with it, much of it fermented. The press is specially equipped with a slightly more modern motor that spins a sharp shaving blade. It turns whole apples into pulp from which we squeeze the cider.

The cider master tosses the apples into the hopper of the grinder box, standing clear to avoid losing digits but getting covered in mush all the same. OSHA would shut us down in no time if they saw our operation: In addition to the lethal grinder, the kids use knives and climb trees. Older people climb ladders balanced precariously on uneven terrain, and we walk on a carpet of ball-bearing-like apples through the orchard.

We have a variety of trees, although we're not sure exactly what they are. There have been many variations on each of the common apple varieties, with many nurseries like Stark Brothers coming up with their own types. Our biggest tree we believe to be a McIntosh. The apples are dark red when they get full sun, greener when they don't, and round. They're tart-sweet and good for cooking.

We have a small summer apple that's red- and yellow-striped that's good for a few weeks before turning pithy. We think there are two types of Golden Delicious, one superior to the other. The apples of the first are large, crisp, beautiful yellow-gold and blushed with pink. The other stays greenish yellow and is smaller and not as flavorful.

Another tree with apples similar to the Mac may be a Rome. Its tart red apples also are good in pies and give the cider a nice acidic kick.

The Red Delicious is our problem tree. We almost took it out one year, disgusted with the lack of flavor in the apples. A few weeks after that decision I tried an apple, and it was wonderful. It ripens really late, and before it goes through the cold weather, it's just plain boring. Not sweet, not tart, it has a greenish vegetal flavor. We throw some in the cider just because they're juicy, but it would be nice to try some of them juiced some day. However, they are never ripe by the time we cider.

To press cider, family and friends of all ages divide up the work, picking, washing the apples, coring and cutting out bad parts, carrying the apples to the press, loading the machine and pressing the pulp, and taking the used-up pulp, called pomace, to the compost. Some cider makers gather the apples and let them soften before they press them; others throw the whole apple in regardless of the bugs and occasional bad spots. We imagine we can taste the difference, so we clean the apples up, even though it's time consuming.

We worked in three shifts this year, morning, noon and evening, with little time to sit down except to enjoy a pot luck lunch of frijoles charros, wild rice salad, apple crisp, rustic apple tart, pumpkin pie and apple cider. At dark, the weary evening crew finished up the food.

Cidering's hard work, but a warm, sunny fall day spent outdoors with four generations of family, close friends and neighbors was as sweet as any cider.


This scrumptious, mildly sweet autumnal sauce also makes a delicious binder for your favorite chicken pot pie recipe. (Recipes courtesy Patricia Greathouse unless otherwise attributed; following recipe by Patricia Greathouse and adapted by Rob DeWalt).

CHICKEN IN CREAMY CIDER SAUCE

Serves 4
2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, cut in half
2 each bone-in, skin-on chicken legs and thighs
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 small sweet onion, chopped fine
1 small tart apple, peeled and chopped fine
4 leaves fresh sage, chopped
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons calvados (apple brandy, optional)
2 cups fresh apple cider
1 cup 2 percent low-fat milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and dry chicken pieces thoroughly. Heat vegetable oil to medium-high in a sauté pan large enough to hold half the chicken without crowding. Season chicken liberally with salt, pepper and thyme, and brown the chicken thoroughly on both sides in two batches. Remove chicken pieces to an oven-proof roasting pan and put in the preheated oven. Roast for about 25-30 minutes (internal temperature should reach 165 degrees).

Remove the chicken from the roasting pan and pour the chicken's cooking juices and rendered fat back to the skillet. Set the chicken aside in the roasting pan. Add the onions to the skillet and cook for 3 minutes. Add the calvados to the pan with the apple, chopped sage and sweet paprika, and reduce the liquid until almost dry. Add the 3 tablespoons of butter, and cook until butter begins to foam slightly. Do not brown. Sift the flour over the onion/apple mixture and whisk constantly over medium heat for 4 minutes, until the mixture turns a light caramel color. Whisk in the cider well to remove any lumps of flour, bring to a boil, then lower stove to simmer. Stir sauce frequently until it thickens to the consistency of light cream. Taste for seasoning, and add salt and pepper to taste. Strain sauce to remove lumps, if necessary. Quickly reheat chicken pieces in the oven at 400 degrees, or re-warm chicken in the cider cream sauce. Serving suggestion: Serve with rice or rice pilaf, beets roasted with cider vinegar and rosemary, and hearty greens. Wine-pairing suggestions: Pinot Gris, Rose, Grüner Vetliner, Torrontes.


Beets are currently abundant at area farmers markets and in produce aisles. This simple recipe utilizes fresh rosemary, which adds another depth of earthiness to the beets. (Recipe by Rob DeWalt).


Serves 4
4 cups peeled beets, washed and dried thoroughly, cut into one-inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons apple cider
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, washed
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toss the beets well with the vinegar, cider and olive oil, and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Season to taste. Crush rosemary sprigs with the back of a knife to release natural oils. Place rosemary sprigs on top of beets. Loosely cover with another piece of aluminum foil, and roast the beets until slightly tender. Remove top layer of foil, and roast to desired doneness. (Some caramelization will occur, adding toastiness and more sweetness to the beets. For less caramelization, do not remove top layer of foil).


Dense and moist and full of spice, this bread is great toasted for breakfast and topped with cream cheese or almond butter.


2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 cups grated tart cooking apples
2 eggs
1 cup fresh cider

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and butter a bread pan.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice in a bowl and reserve.

Mix apples and eggs in the bowl of a stand-up mixer. Slowly pour in cider with the mixer running on lowest speed. Add flour mixture and mix until no flour is showing. Scrape into bread pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 45-55 minutes, or until the loaf is golden on top and pulls away from the side of the pan. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove from pan and cool thoroughly on a rack before slicing.


Remember the purple cow, the float your mother would let you have almost any time because it was good for you? Well, a cider float is good for you, too, (wink wink), and it's bubbly.


Fresh pressed apple cider

Seltzer

Premium ice cream

Fill tall glass almost half full with cider. Add seltzer to within a couple of inches of the top of the glass. Add a scoop of ice cream.


Allow several hours of braising for the ribs to become meltingly tender.


3 racks pork spare ribs (also called St. Louis ribs)
Unsalted spice rub of choice
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt
1 quart apple cider

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Season ribs liberally with spice rub, pepper and salt. Wrap in heavy-duty aluminum foil and seal tightly. Place in a large roasting pan in a preheated oven.

While the ribs are in the oven, reduce the cider to 1 cup by boiling it over medium high heat. Reserve.

Braise ribs for 3-4 hours, or until the meat is absolutely tender but not falling off the bone.

Open the packages. Take care, as they will be full of steam and hot liquid.

Drain the accumulated cooking juices and turn the oven up to 450 degrees. Cut the ribs into serving-sized segments of 2-4 ribs, put back in the roasting pan, and baste with the cider. Place the pan in the oven. Continue to baste with the cider until the ribs have a shiny, thickly glazed surface. Serve hot.


This makes a delicious, huge apple crisp that serves 10-15. From Barefoot Contessa Parties!


5 pounds McIntosh or Macoun apples
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the topping:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch by 14-inch by 2-inch oval baking dish. Peel, core, and cut the apples into large wedges. Combine the apples with the zests, juices, sugar and spices. Pour into the dish.

To make the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scatter evenly over the apples.

Place the crisp (in the baking dish) on a sheet pan and bake for 1 hour until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly. Serve warm.

Where to find it: Pat Montoya's Family Orchard — a 12-acre parcel in Velarde Valley along the Río Grande River near Española — has been producing cider for more than four generations. The Montoya family also grows Certified Naturally Grown apple varieties including Double Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Jonathan, Fuji, Gala, Rome and Granny Smith. You can purchase Montoya family products at the Santa Fe Farmers Market (8 a.m.-noon Saturdays and Tuesdays, Paseo de Peralta at South Guadalupe Street in the Railyard), the Taos Farmers Market, and the Los Alamos Farmers Market.