In Search of This Drink in Idaho Right Now

I’ve been on the lookout for apple cider.  Not the kind that big-name brands heavily process and that appear on the shelves year-round.  No, I’m looking for the stuff that’s recently pressed and stacked in the produce section.  The unfiltered variety.  This is why fall is one of my favorite times of the year.

The Two Kinds of Cider Need to be Separated When Buying

A couple of years ago, a nutritionist told me I would be better off eating apples and drinking water.  I already have an apple a day, and I drink a gallon of water during my radio show.  I asked if she would be happy if I switched from cider to whiskey.  She relented. However, there are hard ciders available in the valley.  I haven’t sipped a hard cider since a buddy and I found a jug on his family's enclosed porch.  It hadn’t been intended to end up with dizzying effects, but had been forgotten.  I regretted our foray.

Neighboring Washington gets all the attention for growing apples, just as Idaho is synonymous with potatoes.  But you can find apples here, just as you can find potatoes there.  I think, like most things in Idaho, the apples are a deeper red.

Buy and Store or Press Your Own?

A produce manager at WinCo told me that he will often buy 20 gallons of cider at a time.  He shares my taste for the drink.  I like a glass a day, when it’s available.  I’m thinking of pressing my own in the future.  I can find the apples; now I need to find room for the press.