99 Station Street

OK, so 5 units of cider per day is probably not a healthy thing, long term. However, there are some significant health benefits to traditional ciders. You have probably heard of anti-oxidants. Basically, they are molecules that, amongst other taks, hunt down cell vandals, free radicals, and help to prevent damage which can lead to cancer and cariovascular disease. Research has shown that a unit measure of cider has the same health promoting properties as the same of red wine.

Somewhere about 45% of the apples harvested in the UK go into cider making. For the home grower this is a simple use for your surplus fruit and one of the more accessible. The main stopping points are finding a quantity of apples, a device to mash the fruit and a press to extract the juice. All of this is something a community can make arrangements on. The production of cider is ease itself; sterile fermenting kit (available cheaply at any home brew store), apple juice, yeast and maybe some ascorbic acid (prevents the juice going brown). If you have a friend who has the machinery and you have the apples, a simple barter of apple juice for mechanical assistance often works.