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* More on pressing apples *



In article <Xgn6xCAenXOyEwRK@ghods.demon.co.uk>
           gerry@ghods.demon.co.uk "G.M.Hodson" writes:

> In article <842425021snz@ozzz.demon.co.uk>, oz <oz@ozzz.demon.co.uk>
> writes
> >It may be rash of me (I doubt it actually) but I'm not particularly
> >well off and I've just sent off for a 9 litre apple press and small
> >crusher which you use with an electric drill - total cost 150 quid (sterling).
> >The suppliers are called Vigo.
> >
> >I have great plans. My father in law has a small orchard (3 acres) and
> >every year a good few crates of apples rot in his cellar. My wife
> >often buys farm pressed apple juice from the supermarket at nearly
> >2 quid a litre. Apart from ourselves I reckon family and friends would
> >be most appreciative of the odd litre of home pressed apple juice.
> >I plan to freeze it and I'll try pasturising it at 70 C in jars or
> >bottles, I think. Never been a great cider drinker but there are 
> >possibilities there to. We do use cider vinegar sometimes. 
> >
> >It also occurs to me that instead of buying freshly squeezed orange
> >juice from supermarkets, street vendors and others, perhaps people would be 
> >interested
> >in freshly pressed apple juice. My LETS scheme might be a good outlet
> >to begin with.
> >
> >But alas, no-one is backing me. My wife and my father in law think I'm 
> >crazy to spemd all that money, my parents were decidedly luke warm about it, 
> >and even friends who I would have thought would know better seem to show
> >no enthusiasm. Moreover, it has been extremely difficult to find any
> >inf. at all about pressing and presses. And for me that's the clincher.
> >I know its a good idea, but because no one else seems to realise it 
> >perhaps its a very good idea.
> >
> >Anyway, I'm posting off the order today.
> >
> >Can anyone give me any advice on any of the problems I am soon to encounter?
> >Thanks in advance. I'll make further postings here as things develop.
> >
> I bought a kitchen-type presser and pulper from Vigo and have used them
> extensively. In this area (Ross-on-Wye, UK) there are a number of
> orchards where I am able to buy apples direct from the growers who will
> sell fruit that will not grade i.e. too small, too large, odd shape or
> bird damaged, this sort of fruit is very reasonable.
> I have found that the preperation of the fruit to be somewhat tedious,
> cutting and pulping, but the resulting juice is excellent.
> I have also noticed that some commercially available apple juice has the
> appearence of not having been oxidised in the pulping process i.e. all
> my juice turns out brown from the natural oxidation that occurs during
> pulping. On examining the packaging of these "unoxidised" juices I note
> that Vit C has been added and it occurred to me that as Vit C is an
> anti-oxidant this may have had the (intentional?) effect of producing a
> more cosmetically attractive product.
> I think that locally produced apple juices will have good consumer
> acceptance and I will certainly follow you onto the market.


Well I bought the apple press, as I threatened to do, and it arrived at
my father in law's place nearly a month ago. Both he and my wife were
extremely critical of my actions. I've only managed to spend a day with it
so far, when I managed to set it up, and pulp and press a few buckets of 
apples. The resulting apple juice was strong and good tasting. I drank
a couple of pints of it and it definately had a loosening effect on my
bowels. My 3 year old son found the the whole experience thoroughly
entertaining. He was very excited when the apple juice finally flowed
after much tedious preparation. The pulping is slow and laborious. I 
think I may have wasted my money on the "Pulpmaster" (20 quid) which
is just really a bucket with a hole in the lid, And a metal spindle with
a flat bit of metal attached (the blade). You need a power drill to 
drive it. But it takes ages, and pieces of apple that get missed in the
pulping dont actually get pressed later on. Its frustrating. However it
provided me with a means of pulping some apples on that particular day
which enabled me to bring round the wife and Father in Law and so avert
World War Three.

As it turns out my Father in Law knows a lot about apple pressing. He
used to work on a farm where they used to have a bloke come round each
year with a great big press and press a load of apples. He tells me that
you shouldn't drink that juice straight away, he says you have to let it
"work" for a couple of weeks. Now I dont know what he means. I assumed
he meant "ferment" and that he was talking about cider, but now he says
that our 3 year old shouldn't drink it until its "worked" so maybe he's
talking about settling. But I thought if you leave apple juice it begins
to ferment. Can anyone shed any light on this?

He's into the press now. Apparently he's really gone to town on cider making.
A friend of ours who visited him the other week said he had buckets of
apple pulp everywhere. He's doing second pressings by adding water to the
pressed pulp, leaving it for a day or so, and then pressing it again. He also
says that rotten apples produce the most juice, and that on the first
pressing the best juice is the last bit you get out of the apples. 

Another thing - he's not at all bothered about hygiene. he says it doesn't 
matter. My feeling is that it might not matter for cider, but I'm not so
sure about for apple juice. Any comments on any of this?
 
We're off down to his place later today so I'll doubless be making more 
postings on my progress soon.


On the vit C question, I too was wondering about that. It says on a packet
of farm pressed apple juice that "the freshness is sealed in with a dash of
vitamin C - no other ingredients". Does that mean all you have to do is
add vit C to mke it keep? How long will it keep? And what exactly is vit C
and where can you get it from?

Any answers anyone?

And one other thing:

I began this thread a good month ago. How do I post it again so that
people will see it along with all the new threads? 



-- 
Greetings from Birmingham.

Bye for now.

OZ



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