Big Apple Cider?

September 26, 2006 12:23 PM

My girlfriend and I miss the countryside of upstate New York where we went to school. Specifically, we long for the region's excellent, home-made, freshly pressed, piping hot, unpasteurized [!] apple cider. We're now in New York City looking for that wonderfully nostalgic autumn taste. Where should we go?
posted by themadjuggler to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

There are at least 3 or 4 apple picking groves on highway 87 on your way into upstate NY. It's right after 87 peels away from 287 -- just follow the signs for Albany. I think it's the first exit or the second exit after that.

While, yes, it's travelling out of the city, I think that's probably the closest you're going to get to retain that freshness.
posted by thanotopsis at 12:28 PM on September 26, 2006

It's a little long a drive for a day trip, but BF Clyde's Cider Mill in Old Mystic, CT, has what you seek (and homemade hard ciders, too). About 2 hours from the city. No website, but Google for directions from tourism sites.
posted by Miko at 12:29 PM on September 26, 2006

Union square farmer's market, Saturdays.
posted by Phred182 at 12:30 PM on September 26, 2006

Been to the outdoor market at Union Square? Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, apparently (I can vouch for the cider, but not the schedule - I can never keep it straight myself).
posted by fingers_of_fire at 12:31 PM on September 26, 2006

er - what Phred said.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 12:32 PM on September 26, 2006

Ditto all who said the Union Square farmer's market. Wednesdays as well as Saturdays I think. Penty of orchards sell there and even have hot cider to sample.
posted by The Bellman at 12:33 PM on September 26, 2006

Well, to be accurate, any of the farmer's markets. If there is one closer to your house, they'll have it, too. (I don't know where you are, though, because google hates me today.)
posted by dame at 12:45 PM on September 26, 2006

Best answer: Here are all 86 NYC farmer's markets known to LocalHarvest.org. You ought to be able to find one pretty near you. Alternatively, you can search for CSAs, co-ops, or just apples.
posted by cog_nate at 1:25 PM on September 26, 2006

i went to college in upstate new york as well and the cider you can get at the NYC farmer's markets, imo, tastes just as good as what you could get in upstate.
posted by Stynxno at 2:07 PM on September 26, 2006

Yep, farmer's market or health-food store.

But try to be realistic--even if you get a recipe for mulled cider from somebody's grandmother in rural New England, and you pick heirloom apples and put them through an antique cider press, and you let that cider simmer for hours in a big cast-iron pot over a campfire while you go on a hayride, it still won't taste as good as the cider you remember.
posted by box at 2:57 PM on September 26, 2006

Response by poster: Without a car in the city, it looks like we'll be trying out the farmer's market at Columbia this Thursday and the Union Square market this weekend.

Thanks for the excellent suggestions. I never thought Proust would make it into a thread on apple cider! ^_^
posted by themadjuggler at 4:06 PM on September 26, 2006

No help for you, but I just had to add that when I lived in San Francisco, I looked everywhere for apple cider (I grew up in Buffalo) and when I did find it on the menu, I was given a hot cup of apple juice with a stick of cinnamon in it. No one understood what cider was. I was so very sad.

I also couldn't understand why it couldn't be imported from another location. Here in Buffalo, it is readily available at most grocery stores (in the produce section) throughout the fall.
posted by Riverine at 4:31 PM on September 26, 2006

themadjuggler is looking for unpasteurized cider. According to my friends from Plattsburgh (did you like it there, madjuggler?), there is a difference between un- and pasteurized. Myself, I've only had the pasteurized afaik. And, as my Plattsburgh friends have pointed out, even the locals (like Rulfs) that did have it no longer do.
posted by jdfan at 7:43 AM on September 27, 2006

Response by poster: The cidermill I frequented was The Cider Mill in Clinton, NY, and yes, I found some tasty unpasteurized cider at the farmer's market around Columbia! Thanks for the advice, I shall soon check out the Union Square market.
posted by themadjuggler at 9:12 PM on October 3, 2006