Apple Juice

One of the most popular and sought after products of the orchard is its apple juice. Sold fresh at Apple Day, or pasteurised for storage, the bottles can be given as a gift or enjoyed at home. From the beginning we wanted to waste as little as possible from each season’s bounty and the fallen apples were eagerly gathered until there was enough to make a batch of juice. 

In the early days, there were fewer apples produced than we have today and the first press was a small tabletop affair which we used on Apple Day to offer a taste of the apple nectar to our visitors.  As the harvest grew, we splashed out on a traditional press and crusher, along with a pasteuriser, which enabled us to make a reasonable number of bottles to sell on Apple Day alongside the demonstration of pressing apples which the children always enjoyed. 

It was around 2010 that two new members Andrew and Tamara Dodd joined our committee and they were keen to try their hand at cider making.  With an increasing apple harvest, they convinced us that a high-tech hydro-press and apple mill was the way forward and that was certainly a game-changer.  Sadly, they had to move to Edinburgh and with them went their gathered knowledge of cidermaking – though we continue to try!

However, now being proud owners of the new hydro-press we found we were now able to produce many more bottles of juice with the increasing harvest and in 2020 when the pandemic restrictions meant we could not host our Apple Day we made sure that the fallers were converted into juice, making over 300 bottles, that were sold along with our many apple varieties at the local Community Market.