Grow Your Own Magazine

Probably not the right time of year for this, but as I've mentioned before I've only just worked out how to get my photos onto pootah

Ok, so last autumn we had a huge amount of apples, our own and donated. My OH, being a West Country boy, decided the best thing to do would be to make zydol (cider...) with them, but we had no equipment except basic buckets, barrels & demi-johns. We looked everywhere for cheap presses, but even on e-bay the prices were ridiculous. So we tried a juicer (then a friends super-juicer), but the pulp was still coming out soggy - what a waste of juice!

So then OH found some plans on t'internet for a press made with a car-jack and a light-bulb flicked on above his head...he headed for the garage and dragged out...A WORKMATE!
This is how we now get juice from our apples;

1. Chop the apples
2. Put them through mincer on Kenwood, using coarse disc.
3. Half fill 'jelly bags'* with resulting pulp
4. Put half full jelly bag, with top twisted round and down, between 2 thick (earthenware?) plates.
5. Put plates carefully in Workmate, and tighten gradually til juice stops dripping into sterilised bucket.
6. Loosen Workmate carefully, remove plates, empty dry pulp for composting, start again.

This may seem very long-winded but if 2 of you are doing it, it soon gets into a steady flow, and as most apples are ready Autumnish it's nice to do on an evening when the sprogs have disappeared for the night!

Hope this all makes sense!

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Neccessity is the mother of invention! I'm surprised the plates didn't crack though!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

There's a bit of give in the wood on the workmate, so if the plates are thick enuff and you go slow... We didn't have any breakages anyway.

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Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

very clever idea.

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Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful..William Morris

You could always swap the plates for either timber or thick plastic. What a simple but effective idea.

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Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated lots - Sunday 28th at 1640hrs

It could be quite torturous if bodily part were substituted for apples!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Hope LJ hasn't seen this, she may abandon the Sunday evening pea stick for more creative discipline!

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

My father would put the pulp into an old stocking(ladder free) & squeeze.
Could be a bit slow but it worked!

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

Wow! A fantastic breakthrough for hobby cidermaking. Have you patented this idea Sarah?

Best of luck, Mark

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http://rockinghamforestcider.moonfruit.com/
http://rockinghamforestcider.blogspot.com/

fantastic idea, I am going to try it.

What is a Jelly Bag? Could you use muslin?

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Blogging Again at..
http://www.wizer.co.uk

Could you do Grapes in the same way???

Does he mean us?

You can get a jelly bag from Lakeland.

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated September 29th - Bean drying.

You could try using muslin, we just happened to have the jelly bag handy. It's like a bag made with net curtain material, with an elastic top. Like Flum said, we got them from Lakeland.

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Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

I can't see why not? Give it a go and let us know

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Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

we used old but clean tights, we did it by hand, very slow and messy, definatly going to get a press this year.

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Yo an' Bob
Walk lightly on the earth
take only what you need
give all you can
and your produce will be bountifull

Had the "Workmate press" out again last weekend. We were given 6 bags of apples to add to the 3 bags from our tree, and ended up with a really good blend of 3 types of dessert apple and a good lot of cookers. It took something like 7 hours to press them all and although we have ended up with about 6 gallons, that's just too long so we're looking at how to afford a proper press for next year!
We also were given 8 bags of pears (conference, i think) so we're having a go at perry as well, although we've had to add tannins, acid and a bit of sugar to them as they're not proper 'perry pears'. (They were another day of mincing & pressing... )
Anybody else making cider/scrumpy/perry this year?

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Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Yes, lots. Blogging this year's cidermaking here: http://rockinghamforestcider.blogspot.com/

Happy pressing everyone.

Mark

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http://rockinghamforestcider.moonfruit.com/
http://rockinghamforestcider.blogspot.com/

Brilliant blog! You're a bit bigger producer than us...! But we're really pleased with the blend of apples we've had this year, the donated apples added everything our own fruit was lacking - acid & tannin mostly - cups of tea & lemon juice aren't quite the same!
We'd love to grow more of our own apples, but we don't have room for any more trees! One day....

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Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Our local Home-Brew shop hires out a crusher and press,so if you live near Newton Abbot go into the H-B shop in the market.

I just love the simplicity of it