News / apple cider vinegar

In the town of Washington, Massachusetts where my brother Brain and I grew up there are a lot of very old apple trees.   On my grandparents old property, an 1800's farm house is surrounded by a handful of century old apple trees.  Two trees, side by side near the road, produce huge pink and red apples- it only takes a few to make a whole pie!  I've never seen apples like these anywhere else.  Back in 2009 we picked them to make hard cider as well as 5 gallons of cider vinegar, which we used to make a big batch of Fire Cider for ourselves!

I love these trees and wanted to plant more of them so our whole family can continue to enjoy them.  The way to grow more of the same variety of apple tree is to graft clippings from the tree onto root stock.  So that's what we did!

We ordered root stock and took some clippings from the apple tree in early March, while the tree was still dormant. The clippings, also knows as scions, hung out in our snow bank until it melted and then we kept them cool in our refrigerator. The root stock arrived on Monday and we grafted and planted six new trees yesterday.

I trimmed the scions so there were at least 3 buds on each.  I also measured to make sure the diameter would match up with the root stock.

Our six roots for our six new apple trees.  Now we need to match up scions and roots and bind them together.

Dana finds the scion to match the root stock and then cuts each end so they will fit together. 

I wrapped each tree with a rubber band at the graft to keep it stable and then coated it with a healthy layer of bees wax.

We planted six little apple trees yesterday.  They'll get lots of water every day for the next two weeks, let's hope they are thriving by then!  

I recently read this article in the New York Times about how many herbal supplement are not always what they seem:

"Canadian researchers tested 44 bottles of popular supplements sold by 12 companies. They found that many were not what they claimed to be, and that pills labeled as popular herbs were often diluted — or replaced entirely — by cheap fillers like soybean, wheat and rice." 

I can't say I am surprised by this and it is very clear to me that conscientious manufacturers, retailers and consumers need to be hyper vigilant when it comes to truth in labeling, quality of ingredients and labeling claims. Now, more than ever, it's important to know who you are buying from!  

Fire Cider is made with certified organic whole produce and spices, and raw, local, wildflower honey.  We use no extracts, adjuncts or additives of any kind in our production. The ingredients in the bottle are exactly what Fire Cider is, no more, no less. We produce in a shared community commercial kitchen called the Franklin County Community Development Corporation in Greenfield, MA. They follow all ServSafe guidelines, HACCP best practices, and of course local and state board of health regulations.

Our certified organic produce comes from Four Seasons produce out of Euphrates, PA.  Four Seasons is an independent family run business that focuses on certified organic produce as a cornerstone of their business model. They have developed relationships with their farmer partners for over 50 years. 

We just partnered with Windy Ridge Farm in Hawley, MA to financially support their Organic Certification application.  We aim to start purchasing their certified organic garlic and horseradish as soon as it's available.  We continue to seek out local farms and producers to partner with.

We source our certified organic vinegar from Golden Valley Vinegar out of Fruitland, ID. They are honest, hardworking American farmers who produce the highest quality apple cider vinegar in the country. They also supply Bragg's and many other organic producers across the country.