We just finished making a batch of apple cider. We do it every couple of years, though the last time I made it with a group, at someone else’s house. It’s been a long time since I’ve used this small press.
It belongs to a neighbor, who generously lets us use it. I think this will be the last time. Even though I allowed the apples to mellow for a couple of weeks, which softens them up, this press requires either super-human strength, or grinding the apples first. He has a larger one which works much better, but it didn’t seem worth the effort of getting it over here and cleaned up for the small number of apples I had this year.
So, for 4 hours of work (or more), we got less than 2 gallons of cider. Not that it isn’t enough (there’s still enough to share) – just that I didn’t really enjoy it. It would have been more fun with a few friends and a couple of bottles of wine. Maybe even just with the latter, but I started kind of early in the day…
Funny though, once I had it bottled up, I forgot how much work it was, and what a mess it made. I’m glad I did it, anyway.
