Using Our Apple Press This Fall

Using Our Apple Press:
Our procedure for harvesting and pressing apples for cider is as follows.  We pick three to six 5-gallon buckets of ripe apples at a time, and process them within two or three days.  First, the press is set up with a large container underneath for the cider to drain into, which also has a strainer set on it to filter out any large pieces that may fall in.  Then, the apples are washed in a bucket of water before they are processed in the press.  But, we can usually skip this step if the apples look pretty clean, and if we know there hasn't been any chemical spraying on the trees.  Next, one of us puts the apples into the hopper, skin and all to grind them up, while the other person turns the grinding wheel handle.  The chopped up apples drop into a mesh-cloth-lined tub container under the hopper, where the chunks collect until the container is full.  While the tub container fills up with chopped apples, occasionally one of us pushes the pieces down to pack the container more tightly until we are ready to press it.  When the tub container is full, we put the round tub-ram into the tub and press the cider by cranking down the large pressing screw on top of it.  The container with the strainer on top catches all of the cider, and then food safe bottles are filled with cider, and frozen.

When we pick the apples we only take home apples that we have picked on the tree.  We don’t take any off of the ground, and if we drop one then it doesn't go home with us.  This way we don’t have any sanitation problems.  Most of the apple trees in this area are flood irrigated so there is the chance of getting apples with e-coli or something else on them if they have been on the ground.  Although, sometimes we will take home apples off of the ground and feed them to our animals, but we keep them separate from the apples that we eat.

When our son was very young we pressure canned some of the apple cider in canning jars just for him, in case of bacteria.  But, we have never had any problem with drinking fresh pressed apple cider, or cider frozen for later use.

The picture shows apples getting chopped up in the hopper, and then collecting in the mesh-lined tub   Notice that the cider is already starting to flow before it is pressed.

Below Nick is turning the pressing screw and pressing some ground up apples into cider.  On the top of the stainless steel container is the strainer to keep out any chunks of apple that could miss the tub and fall into the cider.

We also use apples we pick for applesauce and apple pie filling.  Transparent apples make excellent applesauce and pie filling, but are absolutely horrible for cider.   We prefer Strawberry Crab and McIntosh the most for cider, and mixing these varieties of apples makes very good cider.

This is an excerpt from 'Food Self Sufficiency: How We Do It.'

http://selfsufficiencyhowwedoit.com