What to do with your apple pomace after cider making
In our video on making cider, Tricia shows how to crush apples with her crusher to create pomace, and then extract cider from the pomace. What to do with that leftover pomace, full of apple skins, pulp, and seeds?
Make Ciderkin
Get more out of your apples by making this delicately sweet, traditional beverage. Ciderkin is the ancient equivalent of Koolaid, a special treat for kids. Right after you've pressed your pomace put it in water over night to re-hydrate. The next morning, run the pomace through the press again and you've got ciderkin.
Compost the pomace
If you usually compost your kitchen waste you might think you should rush the apple pomace straight to the compost pile. Wait! Apple pomace has a lot of moisture and acidity, and adding the pomace from a bushel of apples would throw your compost pile out of whack. When adding the pomace to your compost, balance it with an equal amount of dry leaves, torn up cardboard, newspaper or other recycled paper. Bury it deep in the compost pile (or use a covered bin) to thwart the yellow jackets. You also want to make sure your pile gets hot enough to sterilize the apple seeds, or you might just have an all volunteer orchard in your garden next season.
Feed it to your animals
Serve it up to your chickens, ducks, geese or pigs as a fruity snack.
Feed it to wildlife
So you don't have livestock, no problem! Your local wildlife love apples just as much as domestic animals. Put out your pomace and enjoy the show.
Enjoy your cider, and enjoy the benefits of the apple pomace too!
4 comments
Rebecca, I suppose you could but it would not have as much flavor since all of the juice is squeezed out. You would have to add water to it as well to rehydrate. You can always add it to your compost bin, worm bin or feed it to the hungry wildlife.
Could you make Applesauce with the leftovers? I just hate wasting food.
This is a great article! I will try making ciderkin this year. Try as I might, though, I can’t get my compost piles hot enough to risk adding pomace to them, at least not this year. I wonder whether putting the pomace in my dehydrator would result in anything edible. And, in reply to Richard Cocks, I like your idea, too. How long does the pomace last in the refrigerator? Have you tried freezing it? Cheers!
Hi. I’m new to cider-making and have a press like yours in the picture. I don’t like wasting food so cut the cores out of the apples before pressing, so everything left over was edible. The pomace went in the fridge and I’m enjoying it for breakfast, adding milk as I normally would to my oats.