[Bodger]

Unlike last year, this season is a bumper one for apples and after three sessions of apple picking we have over a ton of apples to press and pasteurise this coming weekend.
Yesterday we went to a local community orchard and picked this little lot.
I have an admission to make.   :oops:  I forgot to take the camera with me.  :oops:   but there will be plenty of other opportunities. We managed to get 15 trugs of fabulous eating apples and even better, none of us got stung by wasps, which was an absolute miracle, because there were millions of the little beggars.   
Here are two rather boring pictures of the apples that we picked. I promise to try and do better in the future. it was a great day in a beautiful area overlooking the River Glaslyn.   
 


 

The flesh of the red apples ( Discovery) is very red indeed and should produce some wonderful apple juice. We got five trugs of them. If the juice we make from them turns out alright, which it should, I may very well consider planting some of my own trees.   
 
 

 

Late on this afternoon, I had another phone call to "come and fetch some apples"
The reason why our apples all look so pristine, is because for apple juice, you're not supposed to use windfalls, only apples that have been picked directly off the tree. This is down to a rather nasty agent called Patulin that bruised or moldy apples can contain.
 Its for this reason, that any apples which look in the slightest bit dodgy get slung to the pigs. :
The pasteurising process doesn't get rid of Patulin once its in apple juice but fermentation does, so any windfalls go to making cider.
I picked another eight trugs of Discovery today, which gives us around a ton of apples to press this coming Saturday. We now have enough Discovery apples to make a single variety juice.
Later in the season, we should be able to get enough Bramleys to do the same.

[ZacB]

Bodger - harvest and a half 
Have never juiced before - is it suitable for freezing ?

[Bodger]

Yes, that's what we started off doing.

[shygirl]

looks fab, we have had the best harvest in years as wev had no wind to knock them down. but not in the scale of yours! they look delicious too. 

[sabrina]

Your apples look amazing. I had my first crop this year. 13 cooking apples. I was delighted. Have only 3 trees but the other 2 have not had apples yet due to being planted in last year.

[HesterF]

Wow! Our new crusher and press arrived at 8pm last night do now I'm raring to go. Two more questions:

1) Do you cut all of those apples open to check inside? I've noticed that some off the tree look innocent from the outside but have a rotten core from some burrowing worm creature. On the scale here, that must be a nightmare.

2) I'm sure I can check this in my instructions but my first commission is grapes. I know I should take them off the stalks (which will be by hand) but can they just go straight in the press? I couldn't imagine they'd need to be crushed first,

H

[Bionic]

Wow, your haul of apples looks fantastic. I can see you are going to be busy this coming weekend 

[Bodger]

We're extremely diligent to try and make sure that only the best apples go into our apple juice and that only unblemished apples go through the mill and into our press. Its not practical to cut each apple in half.
 
We're going to take a series of photos to go on our website on Saturday of us pressing the apples, but of course, they will also appear on TAS too.

[Bodger]

We've been pressing since ten this morning and we're just having a bacon butty break.

[Bodger]

Meet the press gang.
 


 


 


 


 


 

We pressed just over 400 litres of apple juice today.

[HesterF]

We pressed our first 30l today! Just for juice so all bottled and pasteurised too and surprisingly satisfying. Glad we weren't going for 400l because even we had loads of worms in the apples so every apple had to be opened up and cut about before using. Grapes coming next.

H

[Bodger]

We're supposedly picking more apples today ready for the next pressing session this weekend but there isn't a cat in hells chance of us venturing forth. It started raining here yesterday at 1.30pm and its still torrential. According to Met Check its stopped but have I got news for them? I suppose its ideal weather for apple bobbing.

[Fleecewife]

That looks quite a little industry     
 
I've not heard of Patulin - what exactly does it do?   Is it also a problem in bruised eating apples, or cooked apples?

[Bodger]

This is way over my head   but I've got this link as one of my favourites.
 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/cider-workshop/foSyie6GqLg
 
Basically, if you wouldn't eat an apple yourself, then don't use it. This is the maxim that we use for both cider and apple juice making.
To be extra sure, its advised that you don't use any apples that have been on the floor for apple juice. The Patulin risk is negated by the fermentation process but pasteurization has no effect on it.

[Fleecewife]

 
Thank you for the link Bodger.  I extracted this bit which seems to explain things well:
 
 
 
<<<    This is what I wrote on the topic in my book 'Craft Cidermaking'.
Andrew Lea-----------------
The Case of Patulin
 
Patulin is a mycotoxin produced by various fungi (notably Penicillium
expansum) which are found in rotting fruit. When first discovered in the
1940s, as a spin-off from wartime penicillin research, it was actually
tested as an anti-viral treatment against the common cold and was the
subject of one of the very first modern controlled medical trials.
However, it did not work in that role and it was not until the 1970’s
that it was also found to be present in apple juice which had been made
from poor quality fruit. It is mutagenic in certain laboratory tests,
which means that it may have the potential to cause cancer in animals
although this has never been satisfactorily demonstrated. Nonetheless,
good practice requires that its
presence should be kept to a minimum and its level in regular apple
juice for sale in the EU is now legally controlled to 50 ppb (parts per
billion) or below 25 ppb in baby food.Patulin will scarcely be present in apples which are hand graded to
eliminate all rots before juicing. However, one fully rotten apple in a
couple of hundred good ones can be sufficient to contaminate the juice
to the 50 ppb level, so care must be taken that the grading and washing
is efficient. Graded fruit that is juiced immediately after picking, or
is ‘barn stored’ and re-graded before processing, is unlikely to give
any patulin problems. Some commercial juice manufacturers, working with
controlled atmosphere fruit taken from store late in the season (ie in
the spring and summer following harvest), have found problems with
patulin production even though the fruit looks sound. Research has shown
that this is mostly associated with bruised or damaged fruit, especially
if it has been allowed to stand at room temperature for several days
after coming out of controlled atmosphere cold store, rather than being
juiced immediately. The changes in temperature and oxygen exposure seem
to stimulate the fungi to germinate, even though the hyphae cannot be
seen with the naked eye and they are not yet sporulating (i.e. no
visible sign of mould). For most craft producers, juicing only in high
season, this is not a problem. (Incidentally, patulin does not survive
alcoholic fermentation as it is converted to another less toxic
component called escladiol).Large apple juice producers test every batch for the presence of
patulin. Unfortunately this cannot be done except in a laboratory and
tests are expensive to have done by contract analysts. If you are
selling the juice, depending on the scale of your operation, “due
diligence” demands that you have testing done on occasional batches
through the season. For fuller information UK producers should contact
the Food Standards Agency for up to date advice.
--
Wittenham Hill Cider Pages
www.cider.org.uk   >>>