Homemade Hungarian apple juice ( What the f. is juice? Pour me some apple drink, baby!)

This week we had our wine cellar renovated. It's not that it was in a bad condition, but instead of plastering, we wanted pure bricks on the ceiling, on the walls and even on the floor. 

Before the renovation started we had to empty the cellar, and we found a crate full of long forgotten homegrown apples. I baked some apple cakes, but almost 20 kilos of apples could make a lot of cakes ( and could also make us super fat), so I decided to prepare ( and preserve) some apple juice for my Dad, who loves apples and soft drinks. 

There's a saying that Hungarian apples are the best in the world - but they also say it about Hungarian women, therefore I am a bit sceptical. Nevertheless, I love all types of Hungarian apples and I believe they are truly extraordinary. Sweet, juicy, beautiful and delicious. Well. Not our apples. We have cider apples, which means that they are neither eaters nor cookers, and neither sweet, nor nice looking.  However, they make a wonderful apple juice (and great cider, of which we made 10 liters at the end of last summer).

For the apple juice, I peeled and cored 2,5 kilos of apples, and I cut them into bite size cubes. Right after cutting I put them in a large bowl filled with 3 liters of cold water, and mixed it with 0,3 kilos of caster sugar and a teaspoon of citric acid. I simmered the mixture for about 30 minutes, and once the apple chunks has softened, I pureed it with a hand blender. I found the texture just good enough, but if you find your juice too thick, you can still add some water to reach the desired consistency. 

After blending, I poured the juice into sterilized jars, and put the filled jars into my preserving machine. I got this machine from my man ( Peter) as a Christmas present, so today was its debut, and it performed just fine. I cannot wait until the fruit preserving season, as this machine will make it a lot easier ( and healthier!). But back to the topic. My jars sit in the machine at 80 degrees for twenty minutes, so I made sure that they can be kept for months, if necessary. In case you don't have a machine like this, you can use a bowl with simmering water, or you can choose to use some preservatives. 

And what about the apple juice or apple drink thing in the title? Well, I LOVE Dave Chapelle, and the grape juice skit is one of my all time favorites. So funny!