If you’ve got too much apple juice from apple picking season, make this delicious apple cider reduction! There are so many uses you can do with it, including serving it on a tasty apple cake, as a syrup for your French toasts or crêpes on breakfast Sundays or as a pork loin marinade…and more!
Ingredients you need to make this recipe:
- Orange peel: The orange peel will give delicious citrus aroma and taste to your reduction. It will also give a festive feel to it!
- Apple cider: Cider is a raw apple juice that is unfiltered, hence, you can see the pulp or sediments at the bottom of the container. Real apple ciders are found in the refrigerated section of the grocery stores because of their short shelf life. Also, outside of the United States, such as in Canada or France, apple cider is refered to as cidre de pomme in French, which is the fermented alcoholic version. In the United States, the alcoholic version is called hard cider. In this recipe, it is the non alcoholic version that is needed.
TIPS FOR MAKING APPLE CIDER REDUCTION
To achieve the perfect reduction consistency, you need to reduce it to ⅙ of its initial volume. For my reduction, it took 2 hours 45 minutes to do so. TIP: After 2 hours, you can measure how much juice there is left to adjust your simmering time.
Your hot reduced apple cider will look liquid when it is freshly off from the heat. However, don’t let it fool you! Once it cools down to room temperature, it will thicken to a honey consistency.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I use apple juice instead of apple cider? You can use freshly pressed apple juice to make your reduction as well; it will taste very similar. You can usually find fresh apple juice in the refrigerated section of your grocery store. However, you shouldn’t be using the clear apple juice (ie.: Mott’s, Oasis) that you find on the shelves as those usually come from concentrate with other additives. Therefore, you will not be able to make a reduction out of it.
How do you store it? You can store your apple cider reduction in a jar, refrigerated, up to a week.
What happens if I reduce the apple cider further? I found the ideal reduction is to reduce apple cider to ⅙ of its initial volume. Therefore, my 6 cup apple cider yielded a 1 cup of apple cider reduction. If you reduce it further, you will end up with a apple jelly, which is also delicious, but not exactly what you are aiming for!
You can use this delicious reduction on my super moist Spiced Apple Cider Cake!
If you’ve tried this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can let me know how it went by commenting in the comments section below and don’t forget to leave a rating!
Equipment
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Strainer
Ingredients
- 6 cups Apple cider See note
- 1 medium-sized ginger peeled
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- Peel of an orange
Instructions
- Add all ingredients together to a saucepan on medium heat and bring to a boil.
- Decrease heat to a simmer, partially cover, for 2 ½ to 3 hours. The sauce should be reduced to ⅙ of its initial volume.
- Remove the ginger and cinnamon stick. Pass the reduction through a strainer to remove the orange peel.
- Let it cool to room temperature. The cider reduction will thicken to a honey consistency. Store the reduction in a closed lid jar, refrigerated, up to 1 week.
Notes
- Apple cider: Cider is a raw apple juice that is unfiltered, hence, you can see the pulp or sediments at the bottom of the container. Real apple ciders are found in the refrigerated section of the grocery stores because of their short shelf life. Also, outside of the United States, such as in Canada or France, apple cider is refered to as cidre de pomme in French, which is the fermented alcoholic version. In the United States, the alcoholic version is called hard cider. In this recipe, it is the non alcoholic version that is needed.
Nutrition
* Nutrition disclosures and disclaimer
