Review: Harvest Fruit and Wine Press and the Delights of "Apple Day"

Apples grow well in England, where I live, and, as I love the outdoors, gardening and various crafts and community events, I have attended autumn "Apple Day" events in a Community Hall in London for the last four years; these events are always held in late October, which is harvest time for apples.

There I meet old friends with similar interests, some of whom I haven't seen since the previous Apple Day a year before. We all love the apple tasting, apple-related crafts, delicious and varied apple cakes on sale, and, most of all, the fresh apple juice which comes from the community apple press which is brought into the community hall every year.

Some time ago I took some photographs, which you will see below, showing the joint effort of the apple pressers as they fill the machine and exert pressure on the apples to produce the juice which is shown in both of the pictures.

The apple press is worked by enthusiasts on the spot, so that people can see how they cut up the apples, collect the apple pieces into a container, and feed them through the fruit press, screwing round the metal handle to crush the apples and produce wonderful smelling fresh apple juice, which trickles out of the press at the bottom and into a bowl or jug placed under the outlet.

It's such fun to watch the container filling up with the apple juice, and queuing up to get a plastic cup of the purest, freshest apple juice imaginable.....and even come back for more.

That, for me, is the highlight of Apple Day.

Here are some videos about pressing apples, how to make apple cider, which would certainly be useful if you have an apple orchard.

As well as trying out all sorts of apple tasting, apple products such as apple pie, and making apple juice, some talented enthusiasts have made these gorgeous little apple pigs.

Couldn't you just eat them up?