Most People Are Making Apple Pie Mash Wrong! Try These Appalachian Tricks for Perfect Moonshine

Most People Are Making Apple Pie Mash Wrong! Try These Appalachian Tricks for Perfect Moonshine If your apple pie jar ever came out hot, harsh, cloudy, or tasting like nothing but a headache, friend, it was not you. It was the heat, and it was the spice going in too early. Today I show you my Mamaw’s way from up a holler in Wilkes County, North Carolina: a clean, cool apple mash, a spiced syrup made on its own day, and three different jars from one crock. Every measure is below so you can follow along. 🍎 THE APPLE MASH 1 gallon fresh apple cider (the label must say nothing but apples, with no preservatives) 1 cup white sugar 3 tart apples, cored and chopped, skins on 1 packet cider yeast or wine yeast 1 clean glass jug or stoneware crock that holds more than a gallon 1 airlock, or a clean cotton cloth and a rubber band Steps: Scrub everything. A dirty crock gives you vinegar, not a jar. Stir the sugar into one quart of the cider until it dissolves. No fire. Pour it back into the jug with the rest of the cider and the chopped apples. Sprinkle the yeast on top, never into anything cold from the icebox or warm from the stove. Fit the airlock or tie the cloth tight. Set the crock in the coolest steady spot in the house. You want one slow bubble every few seconds. If it is racing, it is too warm, so move it. Wait 2–3 weeks. It is done when the bubbling stops, the cloud settles to the bottom, and it tastes dry and clean. 🥧 THE SPICED SYRUP (separate pot, separate day) 2 cups fresh apple cider 1 cup brown sugar 4 cinnamon sticks 6 whole cloves A little grated nutmeg Barely simmer for 15 minutes, until the syrup coats the back of a spoon. Let it cool completely. Nothing warm ever touches the jar. 🫙 THE APPLE PIE JARS Ladle the clear cider off the top of the jug and leave the cloudy bottom behind. In Mason jars, combine the clear cider, the cooled syrup, and plain store-bought grain spirit or vodka. Add a fresh cinnamon stick to each jar, close them, and rest them in the cool dark for one week, shaking when you pass by. Three jars from one crock, per pint jar, adjusted to your taste: Sipping jar: 1 cup spirit, ¾ cup clear cider, ¼ cup syrup Holiday cordial: ⅔ cup spirit, ⅔ cup clear cider, ⅔ cup syrup Table jar: ⅓ cup spirit, 1⅓ cups clear cider, ⅓ cup syrup 🔧 IF SOMETHING WENT WRONG Smells like vinegar: air or dirt got in. Pour it out and scrub harder. Stopped bubbling but still sweet: too much sugar, or the room was too cold. Hot and rough: it was too warm. Never clears: the apples were boiled. Never bubbled at all: the cider had a preservative in it. Fuzzy mold on top: do not skim it and do not try to save it. Throw the whole crock out. ⚠️ AN HONEST WORD In the United States, you cannot run a still at home without a federal permit, and liquor from a careless still can blind you. This video does not cover distilling. The apple mash is home-fermented cider, and the apple pie jars are made with spirit bought at the liquor store. Please drink responsibly, only if you are of legal drinking age, and never serve it to anyone who is not. 💬 TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS Did your jar taste like apples? How many years have you been buying the fancy bottle? What county are you from, and did your people put clove in, or did they think that was strange? Next time in this kitchen, we make my Mamaw’s apple stack cake, seven thin layers baked in a cast iron skillet. Bring her skillet if she left you one. #ApplePie #Appalachian #OldWays #HomeCooking #AppleCider #HolidayGifts #MasonJar #FromScratch