A modified fruit press
Below (the photograph on the left), my fruit press, used in the making of
apple juice and cider - together with the components needed for my modification of
this manual fruit press. It required a great deal of effort to operate it, using a long handle
and the screw thread - far too much effort when many batches were being
processed. The press now uses hydraulic power. The small red hydraulic jacks
are shown in the photo. To
the best of my knowledge, it's the lightest and most compact hydraulic fruit
press available anywhere, the only hydraulic press which can be carried by
one person to the apple tree or orchard for apple pressing in situ.
The press uses only the components supplied with
the original press (obtained from Vigo, their 9 litre press) except for a
few additional components - the two hydraulic jacks (which currently cost
less than 10 GBP each) and one or two small operating handles, which can
easily be made or improvised. I used a single handle (shown resting on the
press in the photo on the left). It came from an item of gardening
equipment, a rotary soil sieve, before I designed new handles, using
readily available components. Owners of similar apple presses can implement
the conversion very easily.
This project, unlike others described in this gardening section, is
obviously to do with use of a crop, not growing the crop. I bought a fruit
press before I planted apple trees, before I had any allotments. I collected
apples from wild apple trees. Unprepossessing, even off-putting apples
produced juice with an
outstanding taste, complex and intense. The apple trees were growing not in an easily accessible orchard but in thick and often prickly undergrowth. After
picking the apples - most of them not at all easy to reach - and transporting
them, they had to be washed, each apple had
to be individually quartered, then crushed in a machine, a crusher (scratter)
shown in the photograph above on the right (Vigo's excellent 'classic crusher A.')
To
begin with, I used a different method for crushing the apples - I simply pounded the apples with a long
piece of wood, the process well described in the chapter 'Milling and Crushing the
Apples' in the book 'Real Cidermaking on a small scale,' by
Michael Pooley and John Lomax. The chapter begins (and I can vouch for its
truth from personal experience) 'The pressure required to extract even a
fraction of the juice from a whole apple is remarkable.'
Only after
all this work can the fruit press be used. 'Real Cidermaking' gives illustrated
accounts of various presses, including the kind of small press I own, and
gives plans for constructing a press, but
all of them use a screw thread. A long handle is used to exert the force,
and the force needed is very great. "Real Cidermaking' shows two people
wrestling with a press in a photograph on Page 45. The work needed isn't prohibitive, for a
single batch, but just about prohibitive for many batches, or just a few for
that matter. The work is unnecessary when there are sources of
hydraulic power which are cheap and readily available. 'Real Cidermaking'
has a communal perspective throughout - there are many people doing the
work. Anyone who has to carry out all the processes single-handed, or with
only one helper, may be more likely to see the advantages of labour-saving.
This was work which was unlike the hard work of digging a large area or
moving a large quantity of manure or harvesting potatoes or construction or
any of the other hard but worthwhile tasks I regularly undertake. It was
hard and worthwhile but not easy to accept, particularly after I became
aware of the advantages of hydraulic power.
The internet provides many guides to constructing
presses which use hydraulic power, but all the ones I know
of need a substantial rectangular frame, which needs to be very
strong to withstand the pressure exerted by the hydraulic jack. I wanted to
make use of the
fruit press I already have. The press is outstanding value for money, a solid and well-made piece of
equipment which I like a very great deal, a reminder of ' ... an age of bare
hands / and cast iron,' (Seamus Heaney, 'The Turnip-Snedder') but a machine
which preserves its original virtues when modified. I didn't want to have a manual press
which was surplus to requirements, the one I originally bought, after
constructing a hydraulic press.
Designing a fruit press which used no
other components than the ones that make up the existing fruit press, or as
few extra ones as possible, proved to be no easy
matter. For a long time, I made no progress, and then I made a breakthrough.
Implementing the design involved further work but before long, I'd devised
and constructed a prototype. I found it necessary to use two bottle jacks,
not one, but they are small and cheap. The modified
fruit press has been thoroughly tested and works perfectly with this
machine. The effort
needed to operate it is minimal, a slight movement of one hand.
I'm
sure that the conversion isn't feasible for presses smaller than the 9 litre
press here. I've good reason for thinking that the conversion will work with
larger but comparable presses. However, it hasn't so far been tested with
any of these larger presses.
Felicity Ford's
online
journal after mentioning the influence of Michael Pooley, includes this: '
We
set about organising a production line. I washed apples, Mark cut them into
eights [this is unnecessary work - although the apples have to be cut
into pieces, quartering them is enough] and pulped them, and together we wrestled with his small press to
squeeze juice from the resultant slop.' If it's necessary to 'wrestle with'
a fruit press to operate it (from my personal experience, the description is
completely accurate) then surely improvements to the design are called for.
Eliminating the work of heaving and hauling which is needed to
operate the press still leaves plenty of less strenuous but satisfying work. Producing
apple juice can never be made into an effortless process. After the juice
has been obtained, further work is needed to preserve it by freezing
(minimal work) or pasteurising (not minimal but light) or to convert it into
cider by fermentation (quite demanding, but not strenuous.)
This small press
requires no preliminary work on the apple pulp. In general, this is a
necessity when operating large presses since the apple pulp is 'far too
sloppy to stay in one place.' ('Real Cidermaking on a Small Scale').
The book explains one technique for carrying out the work: '...
terylene or other polyester cloths ... are filled with a few centimetres of
apple pulp before each cloth is carefully folded over and separated by good
hardwood, semi-hardwood or plastic racks until the cheese is built up.' The
small press described here is capable of processing the same quantity of
apple as rather larger presses in a given time. It can be kept working In the time
saved by not having to prepare the apple pulp (and, it may be, not having to
transport the apples to the press). Obviously, much larger presses will be
needed if there are tonnes of apple to press.
Some Websites
The Website of Vigo, the leading supplier in this country of small-scale and
medium-scale juicing and cider-making equipment:
http://www.vigopresses.co.uk/
For growing apple trees and
other fruit trees, including detailed information about apple varieties, an
outstanding, very comprehensive site:
www.orangepippin.comIt
includes this on making apple juice:
'The flavour of freshly-pressed apple
juice is distinctly more intense and flavoursome than commercial apple
juice, mainly because it is unpasteurised and unfiltered. In our experience
many people who do not normally like apple juice will find the flavour and
sheer freshness of home-pressed apple juice a revelation.
...
'Home-pressed juice can be drunk immediately, or kept in a covered jug in
the fridge for up to 2-3 days.
'However even the most enthusiastic apple juice fans might find that they
cannot drink or give away all their fresh juice. Fortunately juice can
easily be preserved by freezing it.
'You can buy sterilised containers for this purpose, but here is a much
simpler way (thanks to Becky at Vigo
Presses for this tip).
- Collect some old plastic or cardboard juice cartons, clean them out
(but no need to sterilise them) and cut the tops off with scissors.
- Then take a similarly-sized polythene food bag and push it into the
carton, and fill it with fresh apple juice - the carton simply supports
the bag containing the juice.
- Tie the top of the bag, leaving a bit of a gap, and place in a
freezer.
- Once the juice has frozen you can discard the container, leaving a
block of frozen juice inside a plastic bag. This can be kept in a
freezer for 4-6 months.'
[The cartons don't have to be juice cartons. A wide range of other
cartons can be used.]
The residue left in the apple press after operating the press, the
pomace, has various uses. The orangepippin site gives the main uses:
composting, feeding to pigs and in cooking ('If you removed the stalks and
cores before pressing, the pomace can also be dried slowly in an oven and
then used as an ingredient in home baking.)
The site gives very
useful comments on the characteristics of different apple varieties. Some
varieties are much better for juicing than others and varieties differ
widely in the kind of juice they give.
It also gives this reminder
of one benefit of converting apples into juice:
'Dealing with
second-grade apples. Most gardeners and community orchard projects do not
spray their trees, so inevitably there will be a proportion of second-grade
fruits. As long as they are still edible they can be used for juicing.'
For reviews of ciders which are commercially available (in the UK), and,
in a few places, the author's comments on his own ciders:
ciderpages.blogspot.co.uk
Joseph Bramah is
the prolific inventor who is one of the fathers of hydraulic engineering and
who invented the hydraulic press. He was born not so far from here, in a
village which has become part of Barnsley. These technological pioneers and
benefactors should be remembered with gratitude. Even the simple manual
apple press relies upon complex technology, such as the technology needed to
manufacture cast iron. This is often overlooked.
See also other gardening pages:
Gardening photographs 1
Gardening photographs 2
Gardening photographs 3
Gardening photographs 5
Bed and board
Structures: plant protection and support
Structures: cloches, greenhouse, store/shelter, shed
Composting and rainwater collecting
Some design principles in gardening
Supplementary material is in italics.
The photos here are from 2013. Other pages,
Gardening photographs 1,
Gardening photographs 2,
Gardening photographs 3 and
Gardening photographs 5 show photos taken in
2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014 / 2015.
This
year's growing season
The start of the growing season was delayed this year.
The spring was the coldest for 50 years. Most of the overwintering broad
beans (variety 'Aquadulce claudia') survived and the gaps were filled with
spring-sown beans (variety 'Bunyard's exhibition.')
Below, l
ettuces
in late June on a
raised/inclined bank, North facing and a suitable place for these plants,
which prefer cooler to sun-drenched conditions. The component making up most
of the bed by bulk is the woody material of privet, twigs and branches,
covered by fairly thin layers of manure and soil. The lettuces have grown
well in the bed, which takes much less time and effort to construct than a
bed made up of manure and compost. The 'mono-post'
rectangular structure is simply to mark the boundary between lower and upper allotment
and the straw bale is for sitting on.
Below, high raised beds used for growing courgettes (on the left) and
potatoes (in the background). These beds were also constructed by using
predominantly woody material made available by trimming privet hedges. There
are tadpoles in the pond. The grass near the pond has been left long to
benefit the young frogs when they emerge from the pond. Wildlife such as frogs
have greater protection from predators in long grass than in short grass or on bare ground.
Below: soil
added to the raised beds came from various areas, including this one. Most
of the top-soil was removed and wild flower seeds were sown. The
plants, some of them very rare in the wild, have grown well in the infertile
soil. Visible here: Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus), Corncockle (Agrestemma
githago), Corn marigold (Chrysanthemum segetum), Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum
vulgare) and Common Poppy (Papaver rheum).
Below, climbing peas ('Alderman') grown on the
mono-post support.
Below, runner beans
Below, t
he upper allotment, late July
... and in early September, after erection of a shed (and after departure of
the swifts in early August, when the sky becomes empty and joyless.)
The orchard planted during the last few years is made up of these trees:
Apple
Bramley (3 trees), James Greave (2 trees),
Dabinett (2 trees)Grenadier, Katy, Spartan, Winston, Jupiter, Jonagold, Red
Falstaff.
Plum
Opal, Victoria, Marjorie's
Seedling
Gage
Oullin's Golden Gage
Damson
Merryweather
I've converted an
extensive area of the lower allotment into a nuttery, with six hazel trees,
cobnuts - Lange Tidlings Zeller and Gustav's Zeller - and a filbert -
Gunslebert. I've also planted a Gunslebert tree in the upper allotment.
Good riddance: I've cut down the invasive bramble patch at the bottom of
the lower allotment, laid out a large bed and converted it into a raised bed
by adding a thick layer of manure. The farmer was able to dump the manure on
the bed from the roadside very easily, using the bucket on the front of his
tractor. As always, or almost always, I give thanks for mankind's
technological achievements, almost always preferable to using bare hands,
using only muscle power, as in Hobbes' state of nature.
I've now taken on a third
growing area, the lower half of a neighbouring allotment which is too large
for the allotment holder, on an informal basis. The largest of the plants to be cleared,
up to 3 metres high,
are brambles and broom (Cytisus scoparius.)
I started by applying
glyphosate but quickly reverted to more satisfying methods - scythe, shears, lopper, spade, and blasts from
a powerful flame weeder. Of course, these methods may dispense with the
technology of chemical engineering, the production of glyphosate, but they
all depend upon technology just the same, such as metallurgy.
