Back in the 70’s my dad made an apple cider press, which we used annually “back in the day”. We even took it to the local private school fund raiser to make cider to sell to raise money for the school…back before you had to pasteurize cider to sell it. Then we stopped using it there, and it spent much of it’s time as a plant stand for a huge Asparagus fern mom had…which looked very cool, by the way.
Well, I decided this year we needed to pull it out and get it back in use. We invited some neighborhood friends and a couple other folks from town to join us for our adventure. I read that about 14 pounds of apples should yield about 1 gallon of cider. We found it to yield closer to 3/4 gallon, but that was fine, and may have been because of the style press, as it might not press has hard as others. We had a great time and the older kids got in on the action too. The younger kids had fun playing in the remnants of the garden and climbing on the rocks. The weather was fabulous, cool, but not cold, and quite sunny.
First we grind the apples. This has a motor and a drum with teeth that rips the apples to pieces, and drops them into a pillow case, waiting below.
From there the pillow case is put into the press, we stack some wooden pieces on top to reduce the amount of turning we need to do, and then someone turns the handle, lowering the screw onto the wooden pieces, which presses the juice out of the apples. There is a tray with a hole at the bottom, which catches the juice, and pours it into the bucket.
After that we pour the cider through a sieve lined with paper towels to remove any debris, and then drink!
Everyone went home it a bit of cider to enjoy. Oh, and the Salsa I made a couple days back was a big hit for the party. The flavors had time to mingle and it was delicious! I have just enough ingredients to make another batch. Yay!
My house smells delicious right now! I’m boiling down a bunch of the apples from the cider pressing to make apple jelly. I have read online it’s possible, so I’m giving it a try. Between that and the pumpkin that is baking in the oven, Yankee Candle has nothing on the scents filling the living room right now! I’m thinking I’ll make up some pumpkin bread with the baked pumpkin. I’m not in the mood to make pie crust. I’d rather mix ingredients and pour, at this point in the day. But I’m excited to try this lovely “Cheese Pumpkin” that Jessica from Nippo Brook Farm brought by today. She told of making pies this morning with these same pumpkins and that the juice was so sweet she and her boyfriend were dipping their bread in it for breakfast!
I don’t usually post as I go, but rather sit down at the end of the day, but since I’m not sure at what point my body is going to say, “no, now is time for sleep, not one more thing, I just can’t do it”, I figured I’d bring you through my day. I hope you enjoy the journey. Off to tend to the apples on the stove and maybe start a sewing project…
Okay, the squash is done and I love the flavor. I’m not a huge “squash” fan, in general, and pumpkins really don’t rate with me. But this is very yummy! I am going to puree it now, and decide what yummy treat to turn it into. I just found out we have Vanilla Ice Cream in the freezer, which I was unaware of, so I think I’m going to go peel the apples we picked up the other day, and make an apple crisp!
I didn’t start the sewing project, instead started mittens for Mini. Hot Pink Merino Wool!! I’m using this cool top down pattern that a knitting friend shared with me. it’s fun. Very similar to the toe up socks. If the thumb goes on well, I will love this way of doing mittens. Makes for a cleaner top, no grafting required to finish it. I’m all for less sewing in knitting!
First mitten just needs a thumb and a few more rows of rib. The apples have boiled down, and are hanging in cheese cloth bags for the night to fully drain the liquid out.
Some more jelly draining with the last few eggplant of the season sitting nearby. We got a pretty hard frost last night and what looks like another coming tonight, so I brought the eggplant in. I should have grabbed the green tomatoes too, but I covered them with a couple sheets, which is hopefully enough. I’ll probably pick them tomorrow.
I thoroughly enjoyed a snack of Apple Crisp with vanilla ice cream. I think it’s time to call it a day!
Great photos!
We had such a blast!
Thanks again for inclusing us 🙂
~KAC
…or including us!
Geeze, you’d think we made hard cider 😉