Sunday 27 September 2020

Apple juice


 This is what I use to extract the juice..there are other methods! It was an inexpensive way to start, and the machine is going well...ten years old at least.

The pomace goes to the compost and the chooks over the road.

The juice is filtered, I use a muslin and a cotton teatowel, and sometimes a second filtering through a jelly bag. 


The bottles are cleaned with very hot water then dried in a hot oven to sterilise. When cold they are filled to within an inch of the top, placed in a deep pan of cold water up to their shoulders, sitting on a trivet and wrapped in teatowels to make sure that they don't knock against each other.
The lids are screwed tight then slacked off a quarter turn. Then the water temperature is raised to 190 degrees F and held there for twenty minutes, gently simmering.
When the time is up, out onto a wooden board, lids are shut tight and insulation tape wrapped around them. Then cool on their sides, firstly to make sure that the inside of the lids are sterile but also to check for leaks..the leaky ones get drunk straight away!
Then I melt wax in a jar sitting in a pan of hot water and dip the tops just past the tape..a belt and braces job!
I kept the last of last year's apple juice until an occasion a couple of weeks ago, but I am sure it would have been good for longer.

This is the method I use for processing cordials, and I have started adding a small spoonful of pectolase to the berry cordials so that I don't get a bottle of jelly instead!

I think you can use it for bottling/ canning as well, it might be an idea as I can only get three small jars in the pressure cooker..but at least I am learning the knack of not boiling the syrup out of the jars as they process!


11 comments:

kjsutcliffe said...

I am impressed with your preserving knowledge - never occurred to me that you could do that with fresh juice!

The bike shed said...

Huge numbers of apple and pear trees, heavy with fruit going to waste at Cefn Isla near Usk - could do with an apple press!

Amy said...

That's a bit of a process but all worth it in the end I'm sure.

Joanne Noragon said...

Belt and braces--lovely analogy for your home made process.

Elderberry-Rob said...

thanks for sharing, I have only tried extracting/cooking elderberry for cordial in this way, but don't fill the bottles (sterilised) until the end of the cooking - I would find all that glass and hot water a bit scary in my titchy kitchen lol! you must have some mighty big pans! I bet your home looks wonderful with bottles of juice and cordial all lined up with neatly waxed tops.

gz said...

That is it, Betty..cordial gets the cooking first, juice just gets the processing after bottling..I could freeze it in plastic bottles, but that would mean using more plastic, and using power to keep the freezer on...and hoping for no power cuts!

Steve Reed said...

Interesting! And a great way to use up all those apples. One of our neighbors has an apple tree and every year they all fall to the ground and get smashed up on the driveway. Seems like such a waste.

Bea said...

I'm thinking of the apples in a neighbor's yard that do not get any action until they fall into the dirt. I'll bet that your apple juice tastes lovely!

Marksgran said...

Thank you for that information. I have been canning the apples but we still have loads of apples so I might give this a try. Fingers crossed!

Sandy Miller said...

I have never canned apple juice! Looks delightful! Interesting way of processing, I think we call it low temperature pasteurization. Must look it up now...

gz said...

Sandy I would call it bottling!!