Autumn apple pressing - the freshest fruit juice you can find!

At Beningbrough we grow over 40 varieties of apple. All of these are local to the North of England and many are historical varieties which have been in use for hundreds of years.  In October, when most have ripened, we have the dilemma of what to do with literally tons of apples.  There are endless bags of apples to be taken home by visitors, and there is a limit to the number of apple pies that the restaurant can produce! Our solution is to crush the remainder into juice. This provides an interesting spectacle for our visitors, as well as an opportunity to sample the delicious result.

 This year has been a bumper crop so we have had 3 ‘crushing’ days. The raw materials are, of course, crates of apples, recently harvested from our trees in the walled garden.  We mix up all the varieties, including cooking and dessert apples, so the juice tastes slightly different every time. We're never quite sure what we're going to get but so far it’s always ended up a success.

As with many processes, preparation is all important.  Here, gardener Mark is explaining how the equipment works whilst gardener John and volunteers Dawn and Fred are busily chopping up apples for the first crush.  As the apples are chopped, they are transferred to the crusher which crushes them down almost to a pulp and drops them into the press.

When the crusher is taken away it reveals a press is full of apple pulp.  Next, Mark adds the round wooden cover (known as a ‘cheese’) followed by wooden blocks and a metal plate which engages with the screw to drive the press.

Now the real work starts!  Mark puts his back into it, turning the screw which presses down on the apple pulp to release the juice.  This may sound easy but it is sometimes rather more difficult in practice.

And before long the juice starts to flow – first a trickle, then a flood!

Finally, the first crush is finished and nearly 4 litres of juice is filtered and ready for tasting.

After the juicing this crushed apple pulp is all that is left in the press. This will be pushed out, loaded into wheelbarrows and taken into the garden. The left overs are never wasted - once in the garden they will be a welcome mulch for acid loving plants like rhododendrons and azaleas.

The autumn harvest is always a busy time for the garden team, but the walled garden yields a variety of fruit and vegetables throughout the year. On your next visit keep an eye on what we have growing - you can be sure that it will be turned into something tasty when its grown!