My First Apple Pressing

So today was the day I learnt the basics of apple pressing. And I shall kindly tell you, should you ever want to have a go!

First, you need some basics:

• apples, (well, duh!)
• a 'pulper' for mushing up the apples, (mushing is my 'technical' term for it)
• a press, with frame, fabric and dividers
• tubs for catching the juice
• bottles for keeping the juice, (and funnels and sieves)
• if you want to pasteurise the juice, a big hot tub of water

So, first we arrived at Riverford, at Wash Farm. John is Guy's father, and Guy started up Riverford by creating a box scheme locally. Over time it has grown and grown and now supplies around 47,000 boxes a week to homes around the UK from regional sister farms. Our pressing station has been set up outside the Field Kitchen,(winner of the Best Ethical Restuarant at the Observer Food Monthly Awards for the second year in a row!) and this meant we had a few interested observers throughout the day. 

As I was new to pressing, the other Wwoofers Leah and Barry showed me the ropes. First, set up, as the system flows naturally and it helps to be sorted! So we washed out the tubs and buckets and sorted everything out. 

Leah feeding the pulper the apples: occasionally they get stuck,
and this required the 'pokey stick' to encourage them

You need a big shallow tub filled with water for the apples to be poured into. This means they can have a final rinse and if any have gone bad, then they can go in the 'rejects' tub. The apples are fed through the machine and come out the other end into the bucket as pulp. As Leah is doing this, I'm setting up the press ready for the first tub. This involves placing the frame, (very important) in the centre of the press and laying out the fabric. I then pour the (cold!) pulp into the frame, spread it evenly, then fold the fabric over, (sides first, then back and front flaps). The frame is removed and a divider is placed on top. This is repeated 6 times so the piles is high enough to reach the top of the press. Don't forget at this point to have a second tub under the exit point on the press and this pulp is juicy people!! 

The press: the 4th layer being added and
the tub is already filling up!

Next the heavy top is placed over the stack of fabic wrapped pulp, and a plank slid between the frame to hold it all in place, (we don't want this being knocked over). A small block of wood is placed on top of this, and a hand jack is positioned between this and the frame. A few moments of elbow grease and the pump has pushed down the press. Remember! Keep an eye on your tub at this point! Then remove the pump and place a thicker block on top of the previous one. Then...get working with the elbow grease!

Soon you will have quite a few tubs of freshly pressed apple juice. However, there will still be bits of residue so onto the next stage....bottling.

Our 'system'

For bottling, you need bottles, a funnel, a sieve and a jug. From there, it's really quite simple. Scoop the jug into the juice, and pour it into the bottle via the sieve and funnel. We currently have some spare milk bottles, and so these were used for the fresh apple juice. We made sure we left a gap at the top, in case they will be frozen in the future. Some juice is also pasteurised for a longer life and these are stored in glass bottles. Today we had a variety of (mainly) wine bottles, but there were also some gin and vodka bottles. (You know who you are!) I like this, as I see no reason in recycling glass bottles to be made into....glass bottles. This cuts out the process and saves energy, (always good). The bottles used today have already been cleaned and soaked to remove the labels.

So...pasteurising! This involves filling up the bottles, (again, leave a gap at the top!) and sorting them into small crates, (these hold around 6/7 depending on the shape of the bottle). They then get fed into the big tub of water that's been slowing heating all morning. (Here the tub is resting on four washing machine drums that now contain wood fires). The aim is for the juice to reach a safe temperature of 83oC, killing off any nasties and this means it can be stored for 6 months with the lid unloosened. NOTE...don't cork them at this point, because the pressure of the water will have the corks flying off in all directions! (Also, be gentle, glass will crack if suddenly submerged!)

One of the helpers checks the temperature

When they have reached the correct temperature, they need to be removed and wearing rubber gloves, they all need a rinse and corking. A rinse because they do foam and bubble a bit and so they get dirty, and corking, well, that's obvious!

Today, we were lucky to have a team of helpers on a course learning about food from start to finish. This meant lots of delegation! Some learnt to overcome their fear of fire by topping up the wood for the pasteurising tub, others refined their pouring skills and some worked on sorting apples and working the press. They seemed to have a good time and enjoyed sampling the "fruits" of their labour and what was important was working as a team.

We also had some who had brought their own apples and used the press. One couple will be using their juice to make cider, (add yeast and a bag of sugar per 25l and give it 8 weeks). They needed to use some of our apples to make up the layers for the press and so were charged 50p per extra litre. Bargain! (All the proceeds from the sale of the juice go completely and directly to Oxfam). They also advised on using fresh picked apples, as even a few weeks of sitting around affects the taste and process. 

What I did notice today was the many connections to Montessori activities. For a start, pouring using a funnel and a sieve is straight from the Practical Life shelves! Sorting apples being another and generally, working in a clear and systematic fashion made me realise again the connections of "practical life" activities and real life ones! But this was one of Montessori's ideas: to equip children will skills that can be put to use. Unfortunately nowadays, we don't need these skills as we can wander down to the supermarket and grab a bottle from the shelf. Some even can get their bottles delivered to their door. I think Tobias Jones is right, as he recently wrote in the Observer magazine, "the reason there's an epidemic of depression in contemporary life is that we all find it far too easy to survive: it's such a doddle to find food, to warm ourselves, to clothe ourselves. We live surrounded in incredible comfort and yet are completely removed from our primitive instincts. That, presumably, is why survivalism and post-apocalyptic fiction and films are so incredibly popular, and why, I guess, there's an unprecedented craze for bushcraft: they all take us back to a simpler life that many of us secretly long for, a life in which we struggle for the basics and forget all the ephemera." (The Observer Magazine, 24.10.10, p.86).

Today I observed people literally getting their hands dirty, and you know what, they loved it. The satisfaction of getting to drink something you have made yourself, from scratch, and knowing exactly what ingredients have been used, is vast and far better that anything you can buy off the shelf. And I challenge you to find a taste that matched the juice we made today. It really is 100% apple juice and NOTHING ELSE! We also used many varieties and so the taste can change every time, which is great! 

Even better is that when the press is finished and the pulp is shaken out from the fabic, so they can be re-used, the pulp is then placed in the skip, ready for the cows to eat. So there is no waste. And you can't get much better than that now, can you.