Topic: Wot? No fruit press? Try this!

[Clayhithe]

Click the pic

[calendula]

NOW they tell you how to do it when I've just spent £130 on a press, just imagine how many tea towels I could have bought with that amount  ;D

you must have very strong wrists  :o

ps will be using the press in the next few days  :D

[Clayhithe]

Aaaarrrgh :'(

Not what I meant at all!

The tea towel will press less than a tenth of the juice in the apples,
and it's really hard work.

But it gives a taste of what is available from a press.

[davee52uk]

For reasons I can't go into, I cannot see what the picture is showing. Can you tell me what you did please?

[Clayhithe]

Freeze the apples.
Thaw them in warm water,  cut into bits and remove the bad bits.
Drape a tea towel over a bowl,  and put the thawed apple bits on the towel,  over the bowl.
Draw the corners of the towel up,  so the apple is in a kind of bag.
Wind the towel round to squeeze the apple bits.
Apple juice will run out of the towel into the bowl.

It needs 2 people,  one needs to be strong(ish).
The more you squeeze,  the more juice you get.

It's very hard work to produce much apple juice this way,
but it does demonstrate what a press might do,
and it lets you taste really fresh apple juice.

Be careful!  You might get addicted and need to buy a press!

I was worried about posting the slide show because I suspect that not all browsers can handle it.   If you pm your e-mail address I'll send you the original pictures.

[davee52uk]

For reasons I can't go into, I cannot see what the picture is showing. Can you tell me what you did please?

Thanks for the last posting - the above was done whilst I was at work and couldn't get the picture displayed on my work PC.

[Just Vegging Out]

would a car jack work as a press - like the top half is wedged against something immovable and the bottom half pushing down something like a block of wood to crush the fruit?

[calendula]

I've been meaning to reply back about my recently bought juice press from Vigo - I bought the 6lt version and followed the 'freeze the apples first' routine which worked great

The press I have mixed feelings about - even after filling right up to the top and starting to turn the handle it soon becomes obvious that the metal handle they supply is of no use because the inner part of the press descends below the top of the slats so you have to use your hands to keep turning as it goes down and down - good job I have small hands - they supply you with blocks so as to raise the turning handle but even they don't keep it high enough and it gets awkward. It was obvious that all it needed was extra blocks - problem solved, so I phoned them up to ask for extra blocks for free seeing as I'd just spent £130 with them

the person I spoke to was the rudest and nastiest person I've ever had to deal with in customer services and it took an age for them to agree to extra blocks - appalling treatment and I would never, ever, go back to that company again  >:(

The juice was wonderful though, fabulous, didn't last long  ;D

[THE MASTER]

would a car jack work as a press - like the top half is wedged against something immovable and the bottom half pushing down something like a block of wood to crush the fruit?

i hope a car jack is going to work . im a mobile car mechanic , i have a few jacks and a very heavy van (hence the on line name the master . my van is a renault master)
now i gonna be looking at pressing just a few apples this year as i only have a little tenny weeny ikle aple tree that had just a few blossom this year yes that is a ten foot high sheed under my apple tree  :o
im estimating somthing like a tonne of apples from the tree this year
how much cyder juice can you get from about a tonne of apples. hick burrp  8) ;D

[calendula]

 ;D

I think your motto says it all - he who dares, wins!

[artichoke]

For the same amount of juice and less effort, could you not liquidise the thawed apples (no need to peel, just remove bruises etc) and then strain the result through cheesecloth?

I do this with the rather tough grapes I have masses of, and the juice is lovely and made in minutes.

[PurpleHeather]

I just use a juicer

[calamityjayneuk]

I was wondering that too artichoke.

So calendula as you seem to know the most about it (having a proper press and everything), why do you need to press apples instead of putting them through a juicer or food processor. I am guessing people wouldn't need to buy expensive presses if the result was the same.

I am asking because my mum has 3 apple trees like the master's and she is forcing ten kilos of apples onto us every time we go. Cider making is looking like a very good idea, but the equipment seems so expensive.

Any tips appreciated. ;)

[Baccy Man]

The common centrifugal juicers don't really compare to presses.
The gentle, slow-turning action of a press produces a greater quantity of juice, which retains more vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fibre than the juice produced from a centrifugal juicer. The high speed of centrifugal juicers heat up the juice, allow air to enter and damage some of the perishable nutrients. Presses have fewer parts than juicers and are easier to clean. A press produces a cleaner juice with significantly less ground up skin & pulp in it.

Masticating juicers are on a par with presses but you feed in single pieces of fruit rather than juicing several pounds of fruit in one go. Twin-Gear Juicers are very fast & extremely efficient possibly more so than a press but prices start around the £300 mark & in both cases there are still more parts to clean & more to go wrong with them than there is with a press.

[calendula]

sorry, only just seen this - I don't think the apples presses are expensive, they are a treat to use and the results excellent and their use is semi industrial if you have pounds and pounds of apples (I freeze the not so nice looking ones for juicing purposes) - the press I have is very easy to clean before and after use and Baccy Man (encyclopaedia he is  ;)) says it all really - I have a small basic juicer that I used to use but it takes ages to use, you have to cut up the apples into small pieces and the thing takes ages to clean - haven't a clue about cider making, we just drink the juice as is  :)