Apple juice! With 60 gallons of apples harvested, we set up to process all of them into juice using an antique apple press today. The tractor pallet that Peter built is used to wash the apples on the tractor outside. Larry brings clean bucketfuls to the chopping/sorting table for Linda and me.
Preparing the Apples
We are chopping them in half, removing bruises, and bad spots then putting them in a bucket for the guys on press next.
All of us are looking for unwanted residents like this little guy. Now, I have to look him up and see what we need to do differently next year to keep our orchard trees healthy and make him unwelcome.
One guy picks up a bucket of chopped apples and pours them into the hopper for the grinder while the other guy cranks the wheel on the side. When the grinder finishes crushing the apples into the catch bin, it is slid over to the press side.
The filter mesh is folded over the top of the mash, then 2 wooden covers are placed on top, and the press is set.
Pressing starts with turning the green wheel on top by hand until it is tight. Then switch to using a “stick” for leverage to squeeze all the juice out. It is lots, and lots of muscle-building exercises, believe me!
We prepared for the juice storage by purchasing distilled water 1-gallon jugs and emptying the water out. Washed milk cartons work well too. There are a lot of rules about the proper way to store fresh juices, so please be careful. This day resulted in XX gallons of apple juice.
- fresh not pasteurized (lasts about 5 days in the fridge)
- frozen (lasts 6 months – only fill 3/4 full)
- canned pasteurized quart jars (lasts 1 year)
All of us went to bed early instead of staying up to play cards together. Harvest is such a lovely time of the year!