Apple Juice
Making Juice
All our apples are checked by humans (not machines) to make sure they are all clean, fresh, and free from any bad spots, or of an unsound quality. Then they are washed for a 2nd time before being finely chopped and pumped into our press..
Pressing the juice from the fruit is done by the old fashioned traditional method, but with a twist – We have a "Squeezebox" press, which is like a concertina. This slowly squeezes the apple over a 10-15 minute period, thereby reducing the amount of pulp we have, but at the same time allowing the juice to take on a nice golden brown colour. We also have a hand operated press which is used for demonstrations, and is suitable for visiting school parties to use.
Because we’re proud of the great amount of apple varieties grown in our area, we like you to see the difference in the juice. So we don’t add anything to the apples (most companies add "ascorbic acid" to make the juice stay a pale yellowish colour). We think the true colour and aroma of the drink is much more wholesome and appealing! Importantly it also helps educate the children about the seasonality of different apple varieties, and teaches them how much one type of apple is different from another.
After pressing, the juice is left to stand in a tank overnight before bottling. This allows any of the larger particles of fruit to form a sediment in the bottom of the tank. Next we transfer the chilled juice to another tank, from where it is bottled.
The remaining pommace (which is the dry pressed apple pulp) is then soaked with water and left to stand for 24 hours. This is then pressed for a 2nd time, before being allowed to ferment and be turned eventually into cider vinegar. This product is used as a feed supplement for farm animals to help their coats, bones, beaks, feet and milk quality, amongst other things. Meanwhile the twice-pressed pulp is taken away by a local farmer, who feeds it to his cattle. They love it, as it still has enough flavour to it, and contains nutrients and other properties.