Apples

Yesterday I cam back from Uni to find my Babushka crouching and hobbling around the stove. When i first saw the contraption I thought she was making illegal alcohol (similar to the scene in The Great Escape with the Moonshine). 

Actually she was making a kind of traditional Russian drink with the apples from her dacha. Which explains why I found 3 5kg boxes completely filled with apples, returning from lectures one day (though i didn't think anything of it at the time - one sees stranger stuff here).

This strange contraption is actually very simple. The bottom is filled with water and is heated up while the 2nd and 3rd layer is filled with 5,000,000 sliced apples and a lot of sugar. The water slowly heats up the apples which let out its juices slowly dripping into the jar.

Here is a better photo:

I was surprised by how much juice she was able to get out of it and in total in came to around 4 litres. Here is some of her finished product:

The juice itself is really tasty. It is a very similar texture to syrup and you can either drink it straight or dilute it with hot water, for those cold winter days (which will come).

Though am still very disappointed she wasn t making illegal vodka