Apple Cider
Apple cider
is a great way to
enjoy apples. A glass of cold, delicious cider is one of the
best tastes in the world. Cider is
made of crushed and pressed apples. Many apple orchards make their
own cider, and there seems to be as many kinds of cider presses as
there are orchards.
The first step in
making cider is to wash the apples. The first picture shows apples
being washed at Honey-Pot Hill Orchard. The next step is to crush
apples. Apples are carried by conveyer up to the crusher. On
the left, you see Derby Orchard's crusher in
operation. Crushed apples are dropped into a square
frame for pressing.
Finally, the
apples are pressed and the cider runs free. At Derby, each
frame shown here on the left presses a bushel of apples at a time.
Each
bushel produces a gallon of cider.
In contrast, the
heavy-duty accordion press at Carver Orchard, shown on the
right, closes horizontally to produce up to 600 gallons per
hour.
Finally, the cider is bottled and ready to
sell. These Honey-Pot Hill bottles will be sold right at the
orchard. Carver Orchard, with a larger operation, can fill
1200 gallons per hour using an old 1930's machine for bottling
milk.
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