Pressing Apples
The weather pattern this year has caused many trees to produce bumper crops of fruits, nuts and seeds. It is known as a ‘mast year’ and is caused by a warm, dry Spring helping pollination and a sunny Summer ripening the fruit.
Celia Smith, local farmer and artist, brought her portable apple press to the Riverside Car Park to offer people the opportunity to have their spare apples juiced. Even for those of us without any apples to bring, it was a fascinating process. Fruit needs to be clean and not badly bruised. The press uses water pressure to squeeze the juice out of the apple pieces.
Fesh apple juice has a delicious flavour. It will keep in the fridge for two to three days before it begins to ferment.
Pasteurising preserves juice for storage. The juice can be kept for up to two years. The juice is heated to 72C and held at that temperature for 20 minutes. This stops the juice from fermenting and kills off any organisms that could cause the juice to spoil. It doesn’t affect the flavour of the juice.
Juice can also be frozen. Cut the top off an empty fruit juice carton, place a polythene bag inside and fill with juice. Tie the top of the bag and freeze. Once frozen, the bag can be removed from the box and stored neatly in the freezer for months without any appreciable loss in flavour.