Manzanita Cider
For a white cider, pick the berries when they are blushing in September in the high Sierra. For a pink cider, wait until the berries are fully red and dry.
1 cup manzanita berries to 4 cups water
Wash the berries remove debris. Pour boiling water over berries wait 20 minutes then break open berries gently with a spoon. If not too mashed berries can make another batch of cider. Let steep at room temperature overnight or at least 4 hours.
Filter the cider through a fine sieve into a jar and then strain again through cheesecloth and let sit overnight again. Decant the cider from the top of the jar, leaving as much of the fine sediment and its bitter tannins in the original jar as possible. Sweeten with sugar to taste.
