I don’t believe them but they’re forecasting heavy snow in November. No harm in taking chances though so I phone up our log merchant and place an order.
Of course, our log merchant, is the multi-talented Jay Butters of Trefriw (these are just off-cuts from his boomerang production) so he also brings:
in addition to a 5 litre plastic wine box of still cider, several bottles of sparkling cider, a bottle of apple juice and – a really good grainy loaf.
Then he buys three books off me so, by the time he and Gill have gone, I reckon I’ve had the logs for free and I’m in pocket and we’ve had the pleasure of their company.
The PArtisan Baker 
Great looking cider and a lovely loaf. Good program on Radio 4 about cider yesterday.
Howdy Alistair
No point in listening to programmes about cider when you have Jay up the road.
I should have divulged further, It referred to there being a lot of craft cider producers which have sprung up in wales and that wales is becoming an important area for UK cider. And with bottles of cider like that I can see why.
Jay is strictly amateur (but not amateurish). Had a pint of one of Gwynt-y-Ddraig’s dry, draft ciders in the wonderful Albion pub in Conwy a week ago and that wasn’t bad but I wouldn’t have said it was as good as the pint of Weston’s Old Rosie I had in Chester yesterday. I can’t claim to have studied the field but I have had Welsh ciders that were no better than Magners.
Shall go to Conwy Feast on Saturday in the hope there might be some decent stuff there (more chance than bread).
Ah old rosie. I use the yeast from that to make a supermarket apple juice cider. With a bit of science you can make an excellent scrumpy style cider using the yeast and allowing malolactic fermentation to take place.
I don’t think you’d better tell me any more or I might abandon bread-making completely
Email me and i will gladly send you a bottle some yeast and some instructions.
Very kind offer but I’d better decline – I have a talent for doing anything but the job in hand.
It is time though that I fermented some apple to get a starter going for Pain des Pommes – maybe I’ll add the dregs of Jay’s cider.
No Problem I know exactly what you mean. If I didn’t have my sensible business head on I would be a baker or a brewer (probably a baker), perhaps in another life
All this talk of cider is making me thirsty. Am very impressed by Jay’s cider-making skills. If only those bloody squirrels hadn’t had all my apples …
If you can’t wait till next years apples use 4 L of supermarket apple Juice I tsp of grape tannin and 1 tsp of malic acid. ferment with champagne yeast and mature in bulk for 6 months. Even better make up a culture of yeast from a bottle of old rosie and use that. You will get malolactic fermentation which will give your cider that west country twang.
Sorry Mick I have told you how to make it now. Oops
Squirrel burgers? I just did a version of Paul Merry’s Normandy Cider Rye using the last of Jay’s 5 litre plastique + our very own apples – a sort of Mad Scratter’s Rye. I’ll try and post photos tomorrow.
Mick