Ginger Beer and Apple Cherry Cider

Shortly after our fermented beverages class that Scott Mansfield taught, we started our own batch of hard apple cherry cider and ginger beer with rhubarb syrup. We modified the recipes a bit by using sour cherry juice and honey in the cider and adding rhubarb syrup to the ginger beer.

This weekend we tried our first bottles and we were extremely happy with the yummy results! The cider was a beautiful blush color. Sparkling and very crisp, we could taste both apple and cherry. The ginger beer was spicy and refreshing.

This really was as easy as Scott said it would be! Here’s how we did ours.

Cider:
Since this was our first batch we started out small (next time we’re going for the big carboy!)

About 3/4 gallon of Knudson’s apple juice
A little more than 1/2 a 1 qt jar of Knudson’s sour cherry juice
1 teaspoon of ale yeast
1 cup honey
1 cup water

Pour the apple and cherry juice into a carboy, add the yeast, put on the airlock. We let ours sit 3 weeks- about a week or so after the fermentation stopped, we would have bottled sooner but we were out of town and did not have a chance to bottle until we came back.

Right before we bottled, we mixed a cup of honey with a cup of slightly warm water and stirred until the honey dissolved.

Next we poured the honey water into a clean carboy and then racked the cider (to remove the sediment) into that new carboy. Next we immediately bottled the cider and then let it sit in the bottles for another 2 weeks before drinking.

Ginger Beer:
For our ginger beer we followed Scott’s recipe (posted on www.urbanpeasantsf.com), we modified it slightly by substituting a 1/4 cup or so of rhubarb syrup for the corn sugar. We also left out the Jalapeno. It took 6 days for first ferment, 4 weeks before we tried our first bottle.

Rhubarb Syrup
1 cup rhubarb, washed and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups water
Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and stir over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the mixture boils, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 25 minutes until rhubarb is falling apart. Remove from heat and, using a fine mesh strainer, strain and discard rhubarb solids. Store left over syrup in the refrigerator.

We can’t wait to start another batch or two and share it with our friends! Let us know if you have tried any of the recipes from the Ginger Beer and Mead class, we'd love to hear from you and share your results on our blog.

Seeds, Chickens and Monte Rio

Last Saturday my wife and I decided to take a break from the city and go on a day trip with our dog to wine country. While it wasn't one of those sunny, dreamy days, one often experiences up there, the rain didn't dampen our spirits as we drove along the Russian River. Passing through the lush, forested scenery on Old River Road, we stumbled upon a small, unassuming store in the town of Monte Rio.

On the building a hand-painted sign read simply: Vegetable Seeds.

Turns out we stumbled upon the Sustainable Seed Company. It has an old-timey feel, and it's filled with organic heirloom seeds packs, incubating chicken eggs, various organic soil amendments, books and other organic gardening-related stuff. It's the brain-child of a guy named Farmer John with the help of his partner Theo (guy in photo below).


They are passionate preservationists of the genetic heritage of open-pollinated seeds and ardent supporters of local organic farmers, who supply them with some of their seed stock. I spoke briefly with Theo about gardening in the city, picked up seed packets of beet, radish, fennel, chard and kale and invested in a couple of shares of a local chicken farm.

If you are thinking about starting a garden, please check out their website and purchase your seeds from the Sustainable Seed Company. www.sustainableseedco.com

"A seed is hope. It contains the possibility of a new life and great abundance. Hope and possibility not only lie in seeds, but in the soul of every person. With your help we will begin to build these communities and you will be the richer for “our” seeds…our very souls will lie in the heart of your gardens."

Love, Farmer John

Amen.

Fermented Beverages Class

We had a great time at our first Urban Peasant workshop, Fermented Beverages with Scott Mansfield at LRE/Kitchenette on April 28th!
As we learned how to make Ginger Beer, Pomegranate Sparkling Wine and Blackberry Melomel we sipped Scott's home brews and snacked on Kitchenette's homemade oatmeal dried cherry and coconut devil cookies from, 4505’s spicy chicharrones, and slices of Acme bread topped with Delice de la Vallee cheese drizzled with a local San Francisco honey from Mint Hill Apiary.

Learn to make Ginger Beer and Mead

Urban Peasant is busy getting ready for our fermented beverages workshop next Tuesday April 28th in the Kitchenette/LRE Catering kitchen. Our speaker Scott Mansfield is a home brewer/wine maker who will be instructing the class about making mead, sparkling wine and ginger beer.

After we learn how to make Ginger Beer we're planning on making several batches for our heat wave emergency kits!

Check our website for registration details. www.urbanpeasantsf.com